Great Britain: amid the Brexit crisis, the Labour Party promises an employment rights ministry and considers cuts to working hours

With an early general election expected in November or December, after the UK’s planned departure from the European Union on 31 October, the country’s Labour Party has made some statements that have the air of campaign pledges in recent days. The party says it will appoint a secretary of state for employment rights, ban the controversial zero-hour contract and even look at reducing working hours.
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With the political winds seemingly shifting and amid the spectre of an early general election, the UK leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn is not looking to do things in half measures. His plan should he come to power? To bring about the “biggest extension of rights for workers that our country has ever seen”, he said in recent days in an address to the Trades Union Congress, adding: “We will put power in the hands of workers.” Ahead of its own party conference, which is set to take place fro

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