ANGRY union leaders demanded today that every MP should be made to sit on Saturday to get the Employment Rights Bill through as the Tories again used the House of Lords to block it.

Shattering illusions that recent union compromises on day-one protections for workers would speed the Bill’s passage, Tory peers voted once more for delay.

They used their built-in majority in the Lords to remove a new clause in the Bill lifting the upper limit on compensation for unfair dismissal.

The vote was 244 to 220, with Tory hereditary peers, scheduled for exclusion from the House, critical in the government’s defeat.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Enough is enough.

“Continuing to vote down the Employment Rights Bill, a clear manifesto commitment, is undemocratic.

“This Bill has been debated and scrutinised for months. Tory peers are actively defying the will of the British public and their own supporters who overwhelmingly support measures in this Bill.”

He added: “The unelected Lords who are holding up this landmark legislation must urgently move out the way.”

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright called the vote a “disgraceful attempt to subvert democracy. The Employment Rights Bill was a clear manifesto commitment, and the electorate has backed it. 

“The Labour government cannot allow the Tories to use their inbuilt majority in the Lords to deny workers protection against unfair dismissal and zero-hour contracts. 

“There must be no more watering-down of the Bill. Keir Starmer must prioritise the urgent delivery of the legislation — and get it passed before the Christmas recess.”

He added that the Commons should sit on Saturday if necessary.

TSSA leader Maryam Eslamdoust said: “The legislation must be passed in full by Christmas with no changes whatsoever to the plans as set out in Labour’s general election manifesto.

“The Labour government must now treat this an emergency and override the  Lords’ attempts to override democracy.

“It’s imperative that the Bill is delivered in full by Christmas, even if that means the Commons sitting at weekends to ensure it passes.”

Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, warned that the behaviour of the Lords “increasingly looks like cynical wrecking tactics that risk a constitutional crisis if they continue.”

The continuing delay in getting the law onto the books is also fuelling despair among Labour MPs at PM Sir Keir Starmer’s incapacity to deliver on agreed policies.