Thread by @pmdfoster

So. The hunt is on in Whitehall for #brexit dividends...to show some clear value in the freedoms given by Brexit.

As we report today one area being looked at is workers' rights...but it is politically difficult territory. /1

ft.com/content/55588f…

No cabinet decisions have been taken, but per sources, three potential areas been identified in Business Dept...

- the 48 Hour Week
- holiday pay/overtime calculations
- new EU rules on reporting hours worked...

All potentially possible post #brexit /2

The government says it has no intention of “lowering” workers’ rights....and notes that UK has actually gold-plated many EU regulations...BUT (think of government saying it won't "lower" animal welfare standards)...the devil will all be in the detail, if and when it comes /3

So the government likes to talk about ensuring workers’ rights are protected but ALSO making sure businesses has freedoms and flexibility to grow...so one man's reduction in rights is another freedom to get richer/work harder/be more prosperous. It depends how you sell it. /4

So take this 2017 story from The Sun on the cash bonanza that will be rained down on hardworking families by Brexiteers' (long standing) desire to scrap the 48-hour week. Overtime booooom..../5

thesun.co.uk/news/5156079/b…

But then look at the rather sorry correction that someone made The Sun print after their story was published....which as @JohnSpringford has noted, confesses that 48-hour week isn't actually that big a thing. But as @mattholehouse notes, it's a long standing #Brexit talisman /6

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse Exactly what the government does/doesn't do with it's Brexit freedoms is an absolutely core question of this year....see this @spectator piece by Lord Bridges, former Tory Brexit minster...who bets on a damp squib/7

spectator.co.uk/article/where-…

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator As we report in our story, employers would be keen on some of these moves, per Colin Leckey, partner in employment law at Lewis Silkin @EmploymentLS and @MichaelFordQC /8

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC These moves also obviously have lots of support on the Tory right - the "Britannia Unchained" brigade (Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Liz Truss and new biz sec Kwasi Kwarteng) - that my colleague @SebastianEPayne has written about here /9

https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1347589951190405123?s=20

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne Views echoed by free market think tanks like @ASI whose Matt Kilcoyne @MRJKilcoyne welcomed the proposals — saying the current “one size fits all” 48-hour rule was a “straitjacket on the economy”. /10

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne There are however some issues. First the TCA signed with the EU just last month and the risk that EU will take retaliatory measures if the UK deregulates too hard - but a lot of the Twitter hot takes on this have been overstated /11

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne As my colleague @jimbrunsden writes, you need 'material impact' and it's not clear that this would immediately qualify...how these mechanism work will be of course interesting. More here from @BrunoBrussels /12

https://twitter.com/BrunoBrussels/status/1349996046143938560

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne @jimbrunsden @BrunoBrussels But then of course there is the politics - will @BorisJohnson believe he can spin these reforms as unleashing the inner beast of British business, Sun-style...or does he fear that the reaction that @Ed_Miliband and @The_TUC will cut through /13

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne @jimbrunsden @BrunoBrussels @BorisJohnson @Ed_Miliband @The_TUC You can obviuosly see how these kinds of measures could be used as a wedge issue come 2024..../14

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne @jimbrunsden @BrunoBrussels @BorisJohnson @Ed_Miliband @The_TUC One final thought. In my conversations with business represntatives like @BCCAdam @MarkFoxNews I was struck by how cool they were on these ideas/plans....their priority was on stability and looking to future, rather than undoing what's there now./15

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne @jimbrunsden @BrunoBrussels @BorisJohnson @Ed_Miliband @The_TUC @BCCAdam @MarkFoxNews There is lots of looking around for dividends - recall this story from last year I did on tonnage tax reform plans/investigation to make UK more attractive to shipping companies.../16

ft.com/content/251ec5…

@JohnSpringford @mattholehouse @spectator @EmploymentLS @MichaelFordQC @SebastianEPayne @ASI @MRJKilcoyne @jimbrunsden @BrunoBrussels @BorisJohnson @Ed_Miliband @The_TUC @BCCAdam @MarkFoxNews In reality I suspect that aspirations will come up hard against politics.

But as we've seen with #Brexit, the ideological wing has huge power in the Tory party...and the desire to show something for Brexit other than red tape n rotting fish will be huge.

Watch this space ENDS