Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP Chris Murray raised the issue in the House of Commons

Image credit: UK Parliament

Rockstar Games’ firing of more than 30 workers just over a month ago has once again been brought up by UK politicians, with prime minister Keir Starmer calling it a "deeply concerning case" which will be looked into by government ministers. Rockstar have been accused of union busting by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain over the firings, with the union having filed legal claims against the company.

The dismissals reportedly followed a discussion on a union-focused Discord server in which staff cited emails from Rockstar about changes to the company’s internal Slack policies.

That brings us to a session in the House of Commons today, December 10th. Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP Chris Murray raised the issue of the firings, saying: "Having met Rockstar [about the firings], they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting." He then asked Starmer if the big cheese agrees that every company has to follow employment law and that workers have the right to unionise.

"It’s a deeply concerning case," replied the prime minister. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we’re determined to strengthen workers’ rights and ensure they don’t face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Ministers will look into the particular case the member raises and will keep him updated."

ROCKSTAR UPDATE: Keir Starmer was just asked about the Rockstar firings in Parliament today where he described the situation as "deeply concerning" and promised it would be looked into by government ministers. Not that a Starmer promise is worth much, mind.

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— Chris Bratt (@chrisbratt.bsky.social) 10 December 2025 at 13:22

We’ll have to see if anything comes of that looking into things, but it is noteworthy that Murray said he’d come out of meeting with the publisher with reservations as to whether Rockstar’s firings were justified. Murray has shared more detail about his meeting with Rockstar in a statement sent to IGN. "The meeting began with us as MPs refused entry unless an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] was signed, a request they eventually withdrew after it being made clear this would not be signed," he said.

"The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members," the MP continued. "I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal."

While the IWGB have accused them of union busting, Rockstar have stuck to their line that the staff were let go for "distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum".

I’ve reached out to Rockstar for comment.

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine has also previously raised the issue of the firings in the House of Commons, revealing that she’d written to Rockstar asking for information about the issue and requesting a meeting with a relevant minister.