MINISTERS must outlaw dodgy hiring practices and replace the furlough scheme with something similar to avoid the scar of mass unemployment being left by the coronavirus pandemic, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say today. 

In a speech to TUC Congress, the Labour leader will call on the government to clamp down on the practice of “fire and rehire.”

Bosses can impose changes to pay and conditions by sacking and re-employing workers on new contracts that leave them worse off. Mr Starmer will condemn the practice as “not just wrong, but against British values.”

He is expected to say: “These tactics punish good employers, hit working people hard and harm our economy.

“After a decade of pay restraint, that’s the last thing working people need and, in the middle of a deep recession, it’s the last thing our economy needs.”

Mr Starmer will also demand that the job-retention scheme, scheduled to end on October 31, be replaced with a similar arrangement targeted at the industries most affected by the pandemic.  

He will urge ministers to “show a bit of imagination” by drawing up a “genuine national plan” for jobs amid the coronavirus crisis.

He will ask the government to work with businesses, trade unions and Labour to avoid the “scarring effect mass unemployment will have on communities and families across the country.”

Labour suggests that the new scheme could also expand part-time working, reward employers who give people hours rather than cut jobs and provide training and support for those who can’t return to work full-time.

Mr Starmer is expected to say: “Imagine how powerful it would be if we could form a genuine national plan to protect jobs, create new ones and investing in skills and training?

“I’m making an open offer to the Prime Minister: work with us to keep millions of people in work. Work with the trade unions and work with businesses. Do everything possible to protect jobs and to deliver for working people.”

The Labour leader is also expected to pay tribute to the trade unions, praising their work during the coronavirus crisis.

He will say: “When it came to protecting millions of jobs and keeping people safe at work, it was the union movement that stood up. Without you, there would have been no furlough scheme, no life raft for seven million people.

“The trade unions have always been the unsung heroes of our national story — and through this crisis, you have helped to write another proud chapter.”