Political

Cable opposes “bonkers” Tory plans to cut workers’ rights

Via the Financial Times comes news of Vince Cable following in the footsteps of Norman Lamb, standing up to the Conservatives over the rights of workers :

Vince Cable, business secretary, has vowed to resist “bonkers” proposals to allow bosses to fire underperforming staff at will, as coalition tensions flared over a Number 10-inspired report on cutting jobs red tape…

Mr Cable reacted angrily to reports that Mr Cameron would back the proposal for no-fault dismissal, with one official close to the business secretary saying the idea was “bonkers” and without any evidential base.

One ally said Mr Cable was surprised the prime minister was not distancing himself from the report by Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and leading Conservative donor, after allegations that donations could buy influence over government policy.

“It is surprising that Number 10 backs a report by one of the Tory party’s biggest donors,” the ally said. Peter Cruddas, Tory co-treasurer, resigned in March after claiming that donors might be able to influence policy.

This follows Lynne Featherstone’s previous rubbishing of the proposals to water down parental rights.

UPDATE: Vince Cable has a piece in The Sun today defending workers’ rights – a smart choice of paper in which to put his case.

UPDATE 2: And by the end of the day, it most definitely looks like the Liberal Democrats and workers are winning on this one…

3 responses to “Cable opposes “bonkers” Tory plans to cut workers’ rights”

  1. So, what Vince should do is to revisit our decade old manifesto for business in which there were IIRC over 500 bits of regulatory red tape we would abolish. We can be pro-business without focussing solely on the employer-employee relationship, which would be a clear demarcation between liberal and tory approaches to business.

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