Theresa May is preparing to drop her pledge to make Tories ‘the party of working people’, Labour claims

The Opposition is demanding answers over an aide’s suggestion that the Prime Minister will dump her flagship pledge to put workers on company boards

Theresa May made the pledge as part of a crackdown on irresponsible behaviour by businesses (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty)

Theresa May has been accused of preparing to drop a key plank of her promise to make the Conservatives “the party for working-class people”.

Labour seized on a Government aide’s comments suggesting the Prime Minister is ready to dump her flagship pledge to put workers on main company boards.

Ms May has made the policy central to her agenda to crack down on irresponsible behaviour by businesses and give greater power to workers and consumers.

In her conference speech last month, she said: “Later this year we will publish our plans to have not just consumers represented on company boards, but workers as well – because we are the party of workers, of those who put in the effort, those who contribute and give of their best.”

But the idea is known to have run into strong opposition from business leaders and some cabinet ministers, who argue it would be unworkable in practice.

The Financial Times reported that both Chancellor Philip Hammond and Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, have expressed doubts about how worker representatives would be chosen and hold executives to account.

It is believed that No10 is now examining the alternative of following the German model of placing worker representatives on a supervisory board, or subcommittee, instead.

The paper quoted an aide suggesting the Government would try to push through a policy that sounded reasonably similar to the initial pledge:

The aide said: “It’s about getting the balance right. The issue here is whether it can be communicated as being in the spirit of the original promise.”

Clive Lewis, shadow Business Secretary, said: “The wheels are clearly starting to come off the Prime Minister’s promise of making the Tories the party for working-class people.

“And it is clear that Theresa May does not have the authority to stand up to her own Cabinet and implement the policies she announced only last month.”

Mr Lewis called on Ms May to clear up the confusion, to give “badly needed clarity” to businesses and workers.

He added: “Scandals like BHS and Sports Direct can happen because of a failure of weak corporate governance structures. It is time we saw leadership from the Government on this matter.”

A Number 10 spokesman said: “We’ve set out our intention to see workers on boards and that remains our position. I’m not aware of any government announcement that suggests otherwise.”

Some business leaders have backed the proposal, including Warren East, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, but the CBI has been more cautious.

And the policy could run into opposition from right-wing Conservative MPs, already uneasy about Ms May’s determination to break with Margaret Thatcher’s legacy and adopt an interventionist industrial policy.