Bill aims to protect the whistleblowers

Whistleblowers at work will be given much tougher guarantees against discrimination and losing their jobs, under a new Bill introduced in the Commons today, writes Chris Blackhurst.

Tony Wright, Labour MP for Cannock and Burntwood, the Bill's sponsor, said he had all-party support for the measures intended to protect employees in the public and private sectors who raise legitimate concerns in good faith. If people blowing the whistle had felt more confident they would not be punished, Mr Wright said, then disasters such as the Lyme Bay canoeing tragedy, the Piper Alpha oil platform blast and the Herald of Free Enterprise capsizingmight have been avoided. One of the worst financial collapses, BCCI, may also not have occurred. The official inquiry into its pounds 2bn demise found the bank had an "autocratic environment" where no one dared to speak out.

Under the Bill, whistleblowers would be given rights to compensation for loss of earnings; to obtain injunctions to halt threats of punishment; and to claim for unfair dismissal.