Labour must get tougher on bosses who illegally hire migrants if they want to win back Reform voters who are worried about immigration, unions have warned.
Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found the British public would back a fresh crackdown on illicit employment practises – which are typically used to save money.
The Government is already strengthening rules designed to curb exploitation in the workplace, with some businesses complaining about a growing burden of regulation.
But the TUC – the umbrella body for unions in the UK – believes that going further would help Labour take on Reform by showing that the party is serious about tackling the downsides of mass migration.
They have, however, warned Sir Keir Starmer against trying to “out-Reform Reform” by focussing on cutting migration numbers and watering down human rights laws.
General secretary Paul Nowak told The i Paper: “We have to acknowledge that Reform are riding high in the polls, there is a big debate on the left and in the Labour Party on how we take them on.
“The thing about [Reform leader Nigel] Farage is I hear him bang on endlessly about migrant workers, I have never once heard him call out dodgy employers.”
Polling of 5,000 people carried out by Hold Sway found that three quarters of voters support “fining companies who use and exploit migrant labour to undercut local workforces”.
A similar proportion backed the idea of putting all companies guilty of exploitation on to a blacklist which would ban them from receiving any public-sector contracts in future.
And almost 70 per cent said firms should be held responsible for abuses of labour laws committed by their suppliers, including the exploitation of agency workers.
Nowak said: “The vast majority of people in this country are decent and fair-minded. They are not anti-migrant, but they are worried that we have a system that is out of control.
“This is the sort of stuff that shows the public we are on their side, and it is a world away from Faragean gimmicks.”
Rather than focus on cutting migration numbers and watering down human rights laws, unions have urged Starmer to shore up workplace rights which they say will weed out illegal workers.
Ministers have promised to set up a Fair Work Agency which will bring together enforcement powers previously held by multiple different bodies, but the TUC is calling for a firmer commitment that it will receive the resources it needs to hold employers to account through regular inspections.
The Department for Business and Trade has argued that it already has the ability to drive many of the changes being demanded by unions, including through the Procurement Act which allows ministers to exclude providers from public contracts under certain circumstances.
A Government spokesman said: “Exploitation of workers is sickening and must be stamped out. We will ensure the Fair Work Agency will have the powers, expertise and funding it needs to do so.
“The Government also already has the power to investigate and potentially prevent suppliers from winning public contracts on multiple grounds under existing legislation.”
Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment.
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