Right to switch off: Labour plan policy to stop employers contacting workers outside office hours

A so-called “right to switch off” for workers could be introduced by Labour if the party wins power after the next general election.

The proposal, which would see employers restricted from contacting workers by phone or email outside working hours, could be similar to legislation already in place in France that seeks to give staff the right to disconnect from devices when not working. Angela Rayner, the party’s shadow secretary of state for the future of work, told the Financial Times that “constant emails and calls outside of work should not be the norm and is harming work-life balance for many”.

"We will look at how to implement this in practice, learning from countries where it has been introduced successfully.” The proposal is one of many reforms designed to protect workers and included in Labour’s “new deal for working people”, with the Financial Times reporting that the policy giving staff a right to disconnect will likely be in the party’s general election manifesto.

An election is expected in 2024, with Labour still significantly ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives in the polls. The party had a successful set of local elections, which saw the Conservatives lose nearly 1,000 councillors.

Starmer says "more work to be done"

The Labour leader has said there is “more work to be done” ahead of the general election. In a speech at the Progressive Britain conference in central London, the Labour leader said his party was winning “in all four corners of England”.

The event comes after the party’s success at the local elections last week, with Sir Keir greeted with a standing ovation by the audience. He said: "The hardest yards come at the end. We are on track, we are on a path towards power. But there is still more work to be done.

“The toughest part lies ahead. The task now is to measure up to the scale of change that Britain needs.”

Sir Keir told the conference: “Some people think that all we’re doing is distancing ourselves from the previous regime. We are. But that totally misses the point. This is about taking our party back to where we belong and where we should always have been … back doing what we were created to do.

“That’s why I say this project goes further and deeper than New Labour’s rewriting of Clause Four. This is about rolling our sleeves up, changing our entire culture – it’s our DNA. Who are we in it for? Who do we serve? This task is going to be ongoing, difficult and enormous. It is, if you like, Clause Four on steroids.

“Our work is beginning to pay off. It is much easier to lose the trust of working people. Far harder to reconnect.”

He also told the Progressive Britain conference: “If you think our job in 1997 was to rebuild a crumbling public realm, that in 1964 it was to modernise an economy overly dependent on the kindness of strangers, in 1945 to build a new Britain, in a volatile world, out of the trauma of collective sacrifice, well, in 2024 it will have to be all three.”