Labour would ‘close the gender pay gap once and for all’

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has vowed to close the gender pay gap “once and for all” and make flexible working the norm if Labour wins the general election.

Reeves told the Guardian newspaper that she would use the Treasury to improve the position of women in the UK.

Its New Deal for Working People includes a pledge to make flexible working “the default” in workplaces from the first day of someone’s employment.

It would also demand that companies reporting on their gender pay gap publish action plans on how they intend to close them, coming more into line with new EU regulations on pay transparency.

Reeves said the party would not introduce legislation to force businesses to close their gender pay gap, and there are currently no plans to extend the reporting obligations to smaller businesses with fewer than 250 employees.

“This is not about naming and shaming,” she told the newspaper. “It’s just saying we recognise there are some sectors, some firms, where historically there have been a lot more men than women, but everybody can do something to close that gender pay gap.”

Labour would also work towards a target of 50% of women on company boards, she added, by increasing the pipeline of female executives.

“The area where still a lot more progress needs to be made is women in executive positions … I want women on the board not just as non-execs but also as execs making the day-to-day decisions,” she said.

The party has already announced it will increase the number of childcare places and open 3,000 new nurseries in school settings to enable families to balance childcare and caring responsibilities.

It will also review parental leave, but has not made a commitment to increasing pay levels during this leave – a barrier for many parents.

If Labour is successful in the election Reeves will become the first female chancellor in UK history. She said this was “the last big job in government that a woman has never done … it’s the last glass ceiling in politics”.

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