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Coalition split over employment laws?

Jonathan Winston Jonathan Winston
2 min read
This blog is more than 14 years old

It appears that the government is split in two over employment reforms being proposed by Adrian Beecroft.

While it is believed that David Cameron is ready to back the venture capitalist’s reforms, which would make it easier for companies to dismiss under-performing staff, and his Conservative back benches will also overwhelmingly be in support, the business secretary Vince Cable has reacted angrily to the proposals, saying that he was opposed to the “ideological zealots who want to encourage British firms to fire at will”. He said it was nonsense to suggest that businesses would start to employ more people and the economy would begin to grow if labour rights were stripped down to the bare minimum.

Even before news of Cable’s damning verdict the Beecroft report was highly controversial. One of the main recommendations, which is also one of the most contentious, is the “compulsory no fault dismissal” whereby companies would be able to sack workers without explanation by offering a redundancy payment. It also proposes delaying laws forcing companies to provide pensions for their workers and calls for an end to the spread of flexible working, with a new voluntary code of conduct rather than new laws. Beecroft will also extend to large firms, “collective redundancies”, where over 100 workers are dismissed with only 30 days notice. At the present time larger firms have to pay an additional 60 days worth of wages.

Conservatives blame the last Labour government for the current situation, saying that the laws brought in under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have stifled business and “exacerbated the national problem of high unemployment”, however, they will not find it easy to get these proposals into law and Vince Cable’s intervention looks certain to increase tensions between the two coalition partners.

The government has already published its Enterprise and Regulatory Reform bill, which puts forward some measures, similar to those in Beecroft, such as simplifying the tribunals system and placing an extra charge on those who bring unfair dismissal cases.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9279302/Coalition-split-over-em...

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