AT the Durham Miners’ Gala this year, we celebrated the downfall of the Conservative government –hopeful of what Labour could deliver after fourteen years of Tory austerity and division.

This week, Labour delivered.

Having been an MP under three different Tory governments in just four years, I’ve spent most of my time in Parliament opposing the Conservatives’ attacks on working people but, this week, late on Monday evening, I joined over 380 MPs, the vast majority of them Labour, to vote for the Employment Rights Bill – the most significant uplift in workers’ rights in a generation.

It repealed some of the worst laws of previous Tory governments, like the Strikes Act, but it went further: repairing the social fabric that the Conservatives tore apart during their time in power.

From ‘day one’ rights in the workplace, rights which will benefit up to nine million people, through to ending ‘fire and rehire’ schemes, as well as enhanced maternity and paternity rights, the Bill is genuinely transformative for workers.

Labour’s legislation also tackles the scourge of insecure work, specifically zero-hours contracts – something that I particularly welcome.

I know from personal experience that precarious jobs are nothing but a burden for workers and their families; after all, how can you raise a family if you’re caught in insecure work, scrambling for hours?

This is a situation that was made all the worse by years of Tory austerity, which hollowed out our public services, and their cost-of-living crisis.

Too many people in the North East have been trapped in the cycle of insecure work. This summer, the Trade Union Congress found that over 150,000 people in our region are in precarious employment. We can’t forget that under the Tories (propped up, for a time, by the Liberal Democrats) the number of people on unstable contracts more than tripled.

No more: once the Bill receives Royal Assent, workers will be able to move to a contract that reflects the hours they actually work.

Rules will also be introduced so that working people will be given decent notice of shifts, allowing people to plan their lives around their families rather than around their bad bosses.

For too long, workers have been denied dignity in work.

How can you feel valued in your work if you’re low paid, on a precarious contract and with anti-trade union laws stopping you from fighting for better rights? People’s jobs should be fulfilling, providing them with the means to enjoy their lives.

This Bill is a great step forward in restoring dignity for working-people.

Unsurprisingly, not one single Reform MP voted in favour of the Employment Rights Bill. They all voted against. We should keep this in mind the next time they pretend to be on the side of workers.

The people who deserve praise for the policies in the Bill, though, are all the folks who, year after year, raise their banners at the Gala. The activists, trade-unionists and workers who fought so hard – in the teeth of a Tory government – for a better, more equal, society. We wouldn’t have this Bill without them.

Of course, we still have many wrongs to right, but in just over 100 days of government, Labour has done more for working people than the Conservatives did in 14 years.