The government has published its White Paper detailing the future relationship between the UK and the European Union following Brexit.

On first glance it appears that EU employment laws are here to stay with the paper stating that “the UK proposes that the UK and the EU commit to the non-regression of labour standards” (see page 40, Section 1.6.5 Social and employment).

This hopefully means that the EU based laws that employees currently rely upon will not be repealed or diluted when we finally leave the European Union. Such laws include TUPE (a favourite amongst employment practitioners!), requirements regarding collective consultation and legislation concerning discrimination issues.

The paper highlights its belief in “strong labour protections” and that the UK considers itself to be a “leader” in many employment law areas. It is therefore hoped that these bold statements will prove true when it comes to the crunch.

We shall have to wait and see…!