TORY plans to “rush the sunsetting” of EU laws by the end of 2023 will endanger the workplace rights of more than eight million people, a leading think tank warns today.

The Work Foundation said that protections for part-time, fixed-term and agency staff will be in the greatest jeopardy if the government presses ahead with post-Brexit plans to amend, replace or scrap thousands of pieces of EU legislation by December 31.

Working time directives and paid holiday entitlements are among the regulations that could be weakened by the Retained EU Law Bill currently going through Parliament, the Lancaster University-based organisation said. 

The labour movement has accused ministers of attempting to evade parliamentary scrutiny by giving themselves the power to make arbitrary decisions on the future of maternity and paternity leave, redundancy rights and other vital worker protections which were covered by EU law. 

Work Foundation director Ben Harrison said: “UK workers are already facing the worst cost-of-living squeeze in generations and the prospect of rising unemployment.

“The last thing millions need is a year of uncertainty in relation to their basic employment rights, but that is exactly what the government’s current approach provides.

“Women are likely to bear the brunt of this additional anxiety as they make up the majority of part-time, fixed-contract and agency work, and the situation worsens for mothers, disabled women and women from black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds.

“Determining the future of such crucial protections to an arbitrary political deadline, alongside thousands of other regulations, creates significant instability and risks there being unintended consequences for workers and employers across the UK.”

The plans should be abandoned in favour of the important issues being given “careful consideration and extensive consultation” instead, Mr Harrison argued. 

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak blasted the government for coming up with a “recipe for chaos.”

He said: “Rights and protections that workers fought hard for could be swept away at the stroke of midnight on January 1 2024.

“Ministers are rocking the foundations underpinning vital workplace rights and endangering vital consumer and environmental protections too.”

Mr Nowak, who replaced Frances O’Grady at the turn of the year, called for the Bill to be withdrawn “before lasting damage is done.”

Downing Street has claimed that the legislation is needed to “take advantages of the benefits of Brexit.”