Employment Rights Bill polling for the TUC

Hold Sway was commissioned by the TUC to help understand the British public’s point of view on the Employment Rights Bill, legislation that is currently before Parliament.

We conducted 6 focus groups among swing voters in February 2025, followed by a nationally representative online poll of 5000 people that ran from 4-9 March.

What we found is a huge number of voters still know little to nothing about this legislation: 26% have heard “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about the Employment Rights Bill, leaving almost three quarters of the public unaware.

The poll was designed to show how information and messaging about the Bill affects voter attitudes, and the good news for the government is that as they hear about it, people’s attitudes toward the government become more positive. Among the public at large, favourable views of the government rise from 21 to 27% (+6), and unfavourables fall from 59 to 52% (-7), for a net gain of 13 percentage points.

It’s important to note that this was a balanced exercise. To simulate the actual debate around the Bill, we showed tough arguments against it, drawn from opposition parties and negative media coverage, as well as the changes that it will bring in and the arguments in favour. It’s after that robust debate that we see favourability to the government rising. 

Isolating the views of swing voters, we find a similar positive shift in the government’s reputation. People who picked the Tories in 2019 and Labour in 2024 improve their favourability to the government by a net 13 points, and 2024 Labour voters who would now vote Reform become 17 points more favourable on net. People choosing the Green Party or an independent candidate see favourability rising as well.

The poll’s findings are covered by the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot here.

You can download data tables for the poll here.