Theresa May admits her flagship gig economy report could end up 'gathering dust' as PM bungles relaunch

PM refuses to guarantee Taylor Review legislation into exploitative workplace practices

Chancellor Philip Hammond with PM Theresa May (Getty)

A weakened Theresa May has admitted she may not be able to implement her promised crackdown on insecure and exploitative working practices.

The Prime Minister refused to guarantee the legislation recommended by the Taylor Review – which she set up in a blaze of publicity last year – would ever reach the statute book.

Matthew Taylor, a former policy chief to Tony Blair, called for legislation to beef-up protections for workers in the so-called “gig economy” without sick pay and holiday pay.

But, asked if the report would end up “gathering dust”, Ms May acknowledged that, without a Commons majority, she could only act with support from other political parties.

“I would hope that people across the political world will see the importance of addressing this as an issue,” she said.

Appealing to MPs to look to the long-term, she added: “This isn’t just about the here and now – it’s actually about the future of our economy.”

In a stumbling performance, unlikely to quell talk of Tory plots to unseat her, Ms May mixed up her words and was widely seen as failing to deliver the “relaunch” that had been billed.

She abandoned the sharp attacks on unfair business practices that won praise when she took office last year, instead praising the “flexibility” of the British economy.

The Government would respond to the Taylor report “later in the year” – a refusal to promise to implement any of Mr Taylor’s ideas for greater worker protection.

The Prime Minister acknowledged her weakness in her speech, saying: “When I commissioned this report I led a majority government in the House of Commons. The reality I now face as Prime Minister is rather different.

“In this new context, it will be even more important to make the case for our policies and our values, and to win the battle of ideas both in Parliament as well as in the country.

“So I say to the other parties in the House of Commons – come forward with your own views and ideas about how we can tackle these challenges as a country.”

Labour claimed the package “doesn't go far enough”, while the Liberal Democrats warned any improvements could be derailed by “an extreme Conservative Brexit”.

The SNP also warned Mr Taylor’s ideas fell “shamefully short” of what was needed to tackle insecure employment – underlining the difficulty facing Ms May in passing laws through the Commons.

Jeremy Corbyn said: “It doesn't go far enough, that's the real problem with it.

“Obviously, we've got to get rid of zero-hours contracts, obviously we've got to get rid of the gig economy and bogus self-employment, which actually is a wonderful way for a minority of employers to evade paying employers' national insurance contributions.”

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “Theresa May can’t even guarantee any of this will happen.

“She is a lame-duck Prime Minister with a manifesto left in tatters. The only thing left for the government to implement is a hard Brexit.”

And the TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “I worry that many gig economy employers will be breathing a sigh of relief this morning.

“From what we’ve seen, this review is not the game-changer needed to end insecurity and exploitation at work.”

The review’s central recommendation is for a new category of worker called “dependent contractors” – to reflect that gig economy workers are not truly self-employed.

It also calls for firms which control and supervise their workers to pay a range of benefits, including National Insurance.

Mr Taylor said a key theme of the many thousands of workers he interviewed was a perception that the gig economy put too much power into the hand of employers.

“Of all the issues that were raised with us as we went around the country, the one that came through most strongly was what the report calls one-sided flexibility,” he said.

“One-sided flexibility is where employers seek to transfer all risk onto the shoulder of workers in ways that make people more insecure and makes their lives harder to manage.

“It’s the people told to be ready for work or travelling to work, only to be told none is available.”

The Prime Minister also defended her refusal – supported by Mr Taylor – to ban zero hours contracts, arguing that “would harm more people than it would help”.