Ten-point regulatory reform plan for growth put forward

A Tory MP has put forward a ten-point plan for regulatory reform to boost growth.

Dominic Raab, MP for Esher and Walton, says he consulted business groups as well as a number of legal experts to outline ten specific policy areas where he believes progress could be made.

He said: “Today, the race to the bottom is not malevolent businesses exploiting workers, but the sclerotic business regulation that cossets those in work, by filling the ranks of the unemployed.”

In a report published by the Centre for Policy Studies – Escaping the Strait Jacket: Ten regulatory reforms to create jobs – Raab suggests:

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1. Exclude start-ups, micro- and small-businesses from the minimum wage for those under 21; from the extension of flexible working regulations; from requests for time off for training; and from pension auto-enrolment.
2. Introduce no-fault dismissal for underperforming employees.
3. Strengthen power of employment tribunals to strike out and deter spurious claims.
4. Install a qualified registrar to pre-vet tribunal claims.
5. Promote greater use of alternative dispute resolution.
6. Promote flexible working for senior employees and manage the Default Retirement Age.
7. Require a majority of support from balloted members for any strike in the emergency and transport sectors.
8. Reform TUPE to encourage business rescues and to promote successful business models.
9. Abolish the Agency Workers Regulations 2010.
10. Abolish the Working Time Regulations 1998.

He said: “These measures will help the Coalition meet the Chancellor’s aspiration of clearing every obstacle to growth.”

Sarah Veale, Head of the TUC’s Equality and Employment Rights Department, said: “Here we go again – another proposal to get the economy back on its feet by getting rid of employment protection laws. This time it is from the provisional wing of the Conservative Party rather than the provisional wing of the business community.

“A couple of weeks ago Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and donator to the Tories advised the Prime Minister to get rid of unfair dismissal protection.

“Now Dominic Raab has come up with the same proposal plus nine others, equally ill thought out and based on no evidence whatsoever.”