Jeremy Hunt blasts Angela Rayner's planned workers' rights reforms and says they could jeopardise rising living standards

The Chancellor has warned that Angela Rayner's planned reform of workers' rights could jeopardise rising living standards.

Jeremy Hunt's comments came as official figures show that in real terms - after accounting for inflation - wages are growing at the strongest pace since 2021.

The Chancellor said the wage figures, as well as growth in employment numbers, showed 'significant progress'.

But he claimed: 'Labour's plans would undermine all that progress.

'Angela Rayner and the unions are planning 70 new job regulations that ban flexible working, disincentivize small companies from hiring and make strikes much easier.'

The comments add to the growing chorus of concern about Ms Rayner's plans from business leaders including M&S chairman Archie Norman and ad industry mogul Sir Martin Sorrell.

Sir Martin, chief executive of S4 Capital, has described the plan as 'Labour's Achilles heel'.

Reforms fronted by Ms Rayner would see workers given rights from day one in new jobs as well as a crackdown on zero hours contracts.

Labour's policies would also see it abolish all trade union reforms enacted since 2010, when it was last in power, and scrap Tory moves to restrict workers from going on strike.

Official figures showed yesterday that unemployment rose to 4.2 per cent and wage growth slowed slightly to 6 per cent in the three months to February.

But lower inflation means the cost of living is taking a less of a bite out of those wages. That means that, in real terms, pay growth is improving.

The latest figures showed it had climbed to 2.1 per cent, the strongest since September 2021.

Workers had suffered a long period of falling real wages - when pay was not growing quickly enough to keep up with prices - between November 2021 and June last year.

One drawback of stronger wages is that the Bank of England fears they could stoke further inflation.

If pay growth remains high that is likely to make the Bank more cautious about cutting interest rates amid hopes it will do so this summer.

The figures also showed that the employment rate, at 74.5 per cent, remains below pre-pandemic levels.

Alison McGovern, Labour's acting shadow work and pensions secretary, said: 'Today's labour market figures leave no doubt that 14 years of Tory misery has completely failed Britain.'