Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been critical in the past of European Union intervention in UK matters, has warned that there could be a “bonfire of workers’ rights’ if the UK votes to leave the EU in the coming referendum.
Although pointing to the shortcomings of the EU in its present form, Mr Corbyn said that he wanted to forge alliances with left wing parties across Europe to reform it and said that international cooperation was needed to boost workers’ rights, crackdown on corruption and tackle climate change.
He also said that the EU had helped to underpin investment, jobs and protection for workers, consumers and the environment and that working with European allies offered “the best chance of meeting the challenges we face in the 21st Century”.
Meanwhile, other commentators argue that even if the UK were to leave the EU but enter the European Economic Area, which is the most likely outcome, some of the rules that are most hated by small business, such as the working time directive and the agency workers’ directive, would continue to be applied. Furthermore, the UK would still be bound by any new legislation adopted in the field of the single market, without having any say in its adoption.
In addition, if the UK decided not to enter into any formal relationship with the EU after a vote to leave, some might think we would be free to renounce all EU legislation, including the working time and agency directives. However, for any goods or services traded in the EU, UK firms would still have to comply with EU rules on, for example, technical standards, consumer and environmental protection as Chinese and US firms have to do now.
The Forum of Private Business maintains that, although the perception of most small businesses is that the EU adds unnecessary burdens of regulation, they accept that deregulation is harder than regulation and so even if we were to leave the EU, red tape would be unlikely to be reduced in the short term.