EU Referendum: 23.06.16

[Bad Dog]

12. This is more like it.

From the BBC.

Jeremy Corbyn has warned there could be a "bonfire" of workers' rights if the UK votes to leave the EU in June.

The Labour leader claimed the Conservatives would "dump" equal pay, annual leave and maternity pay rights.

And he did not think "too many people" had come to the UK from inside the EU.

Making his first major speech of the EU campaign, Mr Corbyn stood by past criticisms of the EU but said Britain had to remain in to fight for social reform.

He set out an alternative, "socialist" vision for Britain in Europe to the one being promoted by Mr Cameron, who will need the support of Labour voters to win 23 June's referendum.

He called for an EU minimum wage to prevent "unscrupulous" employers from undercutting wages, and said: "Just imagine what the Tories would do to workers' rights here in Britain if we voted to leave the EU in June.

"They'd dump rights on equal pay, working time, annual leave, for agency workers, and on maternity pay as fast as they could get away with it. It would be a bonfire of rights that Labour governments secured within the EU.

"Not only that, it wouldn't be a Labour government negotiating a better settlement for working people with the EU. It would be a Tory government, quite possibly led by Boris Johnson and backed by Nigel Farage, that would negotiate the worst of all worlds: a free market free-for-all shorn of rights and protections."

Asked about concerns over high levels of immigration, he said: "There is nothing wrong with people migrating to work across the continent but there has to be a level playing field on pay and conditions. What we have is unscrupulous employers doing that."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36039925