Event Details

Roundtable at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference 2024 that will discuss how the Liberal Democrats will seek to shape labour market reforms as they make their way through Parliament, and work at a local level to support more people back into work?

The Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath have exposed serious physical and mental health issues facing our workforce. The UK is the only G7 economy with lower workforce participation than before the pandemic.

Getting people back into work, and supporting more people to remain in work, will be one of the defining issues of this Parliament. Employers across the country are facing worker and skills shortages, and this is slowing economic growth and putting pressure on welfare budgets.

In response, the new Government have set an 80% employment target, and has promised significant legislative and service reform to increase participation. This includes measures to strengthen employment rights, deliver a new industrial strategy and devolve more powers relating to economic growth to local areas.

As the third major party in Parliament, this reform agenda will pose significant questions to the Liberal Democrats nationally, regionally and locally. How will the Liberal Democrats seek to shape these reforms as they make their way through Parliament, and work at a local level to support more people back into work?

This roundtable will bring together key stakeholders to discuss questions including:

• What should the core principles of any Liberal Democrat response to future labour market legislation be?
• How should the Liberal Democrats respond to moves to strengthen employment rights, which are broadly popular with the electorate, yet may diminish the flexibility of the UK labour market?
• Should the Liberal Democrats welcome a shift from a national to a devolved approach to employment support?
• Should the Liberal Democrats target employment support at specific groups most likely to re-engage with work?
• Can Liberal Democrats MPs, Councils and Councillors engage more deeply with employers to create pathways to sustainable and good quality jobs?

Attendees include Sir Vince Cable (former leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Secretary of State for Business), Hina Bokhari AM (Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member), Jo Swinson (former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Business Minister) and Willie Rennie MSP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Education, Economy and Communities Spokesperson in Scottish Parliament) and senior representatives from the Health Foundation, Centre for Social Justice, Working Families and Institute for Fiscal Studies.