November 28, 2011
The government this week announced that there was to be a consultation into relaxing employment laws to make it easier for ‘micro companies’ to fire employees but according to Liberal Democrat sources the Business Secretary Vince Cable has concerns about such measures and looks set to challenge them. The ‘micro companies’ referred to in the consultation are businesses which employ ten or fewer members of staff. The proposal being looked at would allow bosses of these companies to introduce ‘no fault dismissal’. This idea was a central recommendation of the report prepared by venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft on liberalising employment regulations which apparently led to the Prime Minister requesting a consultation in this area. Despite announcing the consultation Vince Cable apparently has reservations about the relaxation of employment laws. According to one Liberal Democrat source speaking to the Guardian newspaper many Liberal Democrats are opposed to such moves. He told the paper: "We do not like it one bit. We do not support firing at will but the Conservatives do. We have been round and round on this and cannot agree. So we have agreed to have a wider debate." Mr Cable is joined by Conservative peer Lord Hesaltine in his concerns about the proposals and it is thought that they will jointly put pressure on the government not to adopt ‘no fault dismissal’. The Business Secretary on announcing the consultation said: "There were some very helpful comments from Lord Heseltine, one of my very distinguished conservative predecessors, you know warning about the dangers of creating a fear of dismissal and I'm very responsive to the advice I get from him."