WARRINGTON North Labour MP Charlotte Nichols shares her views in this week’s column.

It feels like an age since we in Parliament got to get our teeth into important legislation.

The Tories let things drift without tackling the challenges that our country faces, so I have been delighted that the Employment Rights Bill has come to the Commons this week which will make such a difference to working people when we pass it as law.

Under the Conservatives we saw a fall in living standards and real wages have still not recovered to where they were in 2008. Too many people are struggling in insecure, low paid jobs without the rights that they deserve. Now that Labour are in government, we can finally tackle this.

Rather than cutting workers’ rights in a race to the bottom, we believe that dignity and security at work leads to happier and more productive staff. So this new law ends exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices, gives rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers on day one of employment, and strengthens statutory sick pay.

I want the UK to be a high wage, high skills, high standards country that gives everyone a chance to pursue meaningful employment and be fairly rewarded for it without fearing that they will be sacked out of the blue, and this Bill also ensures that workers will be protected from unfair dismissal in the first two years of a job.

This is about fairness at work, and making sure that the thousands of people in Warrington who are trying their best to earn a living can have the reassurance that the law is on their side. Nothing in this legislation is unreasonable or damaging to the economy. These plans have been negotiated with both trade unions and business, and show that it is possible to bring forward sensible plans that will really improve conditions in people’s lives.

We are fortunate that we have high quality employers in Warrington who treat their staff well, and they will also benefit from these laws.

Not only are happy and secure employees more productive, but this will mean that they can no longer be undercut by cowboys and rogue employers who lower costs by exploiting their staff.

A level playing field based on higher standards benefits us all.

After so many years of Conservative drift, we are finally able to bring positive change for people and the country.