MINISTERS have bowed to popular pressure and ditched plans to jail workers who breach draconian picketing restrictions.

Union members will also no longer be forced to inform bosses of Facebook and Twitter posts two weeks in advance. The proposals were shelved following a outcry from civil liberties campaigners and even some Tory MPs.

In its response to a consultation on “tackling intimidation of non-striking workers,” the government also confirmed it would not require unions to hand over the names of every picket to the authorities.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the Tories were “clearly beginning to feel the pressure to amend this draconian and unnecessary Bill,” but she warned that the legislation remained a “huge threat” to our freedoms.

“The fundamental right to strike remains under attack,” she noted.

Unions are particularly concerned by plans to legalise the use of scab labour and curb union reps’ facility time.

Public-sector union Unison has threatened to end partnership working in the NHS if the government bans the check-off system of collecting members’ subscriptions, as the Bill continues to propose.

Labour shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said the climbdown did not go “nearly far enough.”

Many of the picketing restrictions had not been included in the first drafts of the Bill, which receives its third reading in the Commons next Tuesday, but presented as proposals for consultation.

Tory Business Minister Nick Boles said “confusion” over the new laws had been “fuelled by opponents of the Bill who have wilfully misinterpreted its provisions.”

But unions say plans for social media restrictions were included as a red herring. Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward said it had been a “tactical” manoeuvre, while Unite leader Len McCluskey described it as a “token move.”

Yet reps will be relieved that the government has now all but confirmed it will not seek to introduce new criminal offences specific to picketing which could lead to pickets being jailed rather than facing action in the civil courts.

The consultation report said 86 per cent of respondents, including a business organisation, opposed new offences.

“This is not a U-turn,” a Department for Business spokesman insisted.

Liberty policy officer Sarah Ogilvie said the Bill “remains a malicious clampdown on the civil liberties of hard-working Brits.”

RULED OUT

• Requiring two weeks’ notice of social media posts

• New criminal offences specific to picketing

• All pickets being required to give names and details to police

STILL IN

• Mass assault on facility time

• Banning check-off (deduction of union subs by employers) in the public sector

• Armbands for picket supervisors

• Strike ballot thresholds

• Repeal of a ban on scab labour