A law proposed by Nigel Farage to “strengthen women’s rights” could cost female workers money by removing equal pay for work of equal value, unions have said.

A proposal, made by Reform UK days before the Makerfield byelection, to introduce a Women and Motherhood Protection Act that it says will restore equality before the law has been described as “shameless and deceptive”.

The new policy, which would supersede the 2010 Equality Act, is said by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to put in doubt the right for equal pay from jobs that are different but demand comparable levels of skill, effort and responsibility.

There have been a number of payouts forced by the Equality Act. More than 3,500 workers at the clothes store Next won a six-year battle in 2024 when an employment tribunal said store staff, who are predominantly women, should not have been paid at lower rates than employees in warehouses, where just over half the staff are male.

Under Reform UK’s plan, Farage’s party has suggested women’s rights are better protected by laws made in the 1970s and 90s. It has said that the Equal Pay Act 1970 ensures that women and men receive the same pay for the same work and that the Employment Rights Act 1996 ensured rights to parental leave and protection against unfair dismissal.

The party has said that, in addition, their new act will extend the time limit for pregnancy and maternity claims of unfair dismissal from three months to 12 months.

In a press release, which followed weeks of criticism of their candidate in Makerfield over alleged past comments about women, the party said a “Reform UK government will be the most pro-woman, pro-mother and pro-family government in modern British history”.

The party added that “women will retain the right to receive the same pay for the same work, while ensuring that equal pay law remains focused on genuine cases of pay discrimination rather than allowing courts and tribunals to determine the relative value of fundamentally different occupations”.

With regard to its extension of the period for pregnancy and maternity claims of unfair dismissal, the party claimed that “new mothers should be focused on their child, not paperwork and no woman should lose her legal rights because she spent the first months of motherhood being a mum”.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said Reform had “serious questions to answer” on whether it would keep the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and described the comments around motherhood as patronising.

“Let’s call this out for what it is – a smokescreen for slashing women’s rights and making life harder for families,” said Nowak. “It’s shameless and deceptive.

“If Reform was really on the side of women, the party wouldn’t have pledged to rip up the Equality Act, effectively legalising discrimination. They wouldn’t have vowed to repeal new rights being introduced by the Employment Rights Act, like protection from harassment.

“And they wouldn’t have shrugged off blatant misogyny from their own candidate as just laddish banter. Equating women’s success with motherhood is patronising, antiquated and plain wrong.

“All women – whether mums or not – are at risk from a Reform government that wants to turn the clock back. The party can never be trusted on women’s rights.”

Nowak said that it was “galling and offensive” to ask women to be grateful for commitments to keep protections that have been around for half a century.

Voters in Makerfield will go to the polls on Thursday with the electoral and prime ministerial aspirations of Andy Burnham being challenged by rival candidate Robert Kenyon, for Reform, who has been accused of making offensive comments about women on social media.

One account linked to Kenyon wrote that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions” and stated: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”

Kenyon has also admitted to making “crass comments” about the television presenter Carol Vorderman. Farage has downplayed the comments as “laddish pub talk”.