Theresa May has backed away from a pledge to require companies to put worker representatives on boards.
Speaking to the CBI’s annual conference, May said firms would not be forced to adopt the controversial proposal.
“This is not about mandating works councils, or the direct appointment of workers or trade union representatives on boards,” she said.
May’s pledge had met with a cool response from business lobby groups.
The prime minister said there were “other routes” that used existing board structures, but supplemented by advisory councils or panels.
“It will be a question of finding the model that works,” she said.
May promised to shake-up corporate governance as part of her Conservative Party leadership campaign in July, and repeated the promise at last month’s party conference when she said she planned to have “not just consumers represented on company boards, but workers as well”.
Asked if she had dropped plans for the direct appointment of workers on boards, she said she had “clarified” that “we want workers’ representation on boards”, but “there are a number of ways in which that can be achieved”.
She said the government would soon publish its plans to reform corporate governance, which would cover firms’ accountability to shareholders, executive pay as well as proposals to ensure employees’ voices were heard.
