May 1, 2015

With the perhaps inevitable walk towards a hung parliament, it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on what the smaller parties are saying. There’s a few notable proposals to be aware of (even if they may be a bit, dare I say, unbudgeted):

• The Greens would increase the minimum wage at a faster rate – with it hitting £10 an hour by 2020. They would also phase in a maximum 35-hour working week (apparently this would combat unemployment by sharing all the work out);
• The SNP’s focus is similar to the other parties (higher pay, more jobs, less exploitation etc). However, they are notably the only party proposing to restore the 90-day consultation period for redundancies affecting more than 100 employees (this was slashed to 45 days by the coalition);
• UKIP, naturally, would remove the EU’s “shackles” on employment law as a result of the UK leaving the union. The employment law ramifications of this are huge – not least a potential end to the complications of working time and holiday pay. More controversial, however, is the notion of scrapping most race discrimination laws and allowing businesses to discriminate in favour of British workers (I’m not sure their PR team managed this announcement in the best way…).

With the final TV event last night, I’m sure you’re now even more sick of all the election talk but hopefully this week’s guide has given you a useful snapshot of the differences between the parties on their employment law proposals. I suppose this time next week, we may at least have some idea which pledges might come to fruition – or perhaps they will just disappear away in that darkened room?