Thompsons Solicitors has condemned the government’s announcement that it will consult on a number of proposals to reduce employment rights in the UK.

Victoria Phillips, head of employment rights at Thompsons Solicitors said: “No fault dismissals, weakened TUPE protection, reduced collective consultation periods, ‘protected conversations’ to allow employers to avoid liability for what they say to staff, severe limitations on access to employment tribunals and yet Vince Cable says he is ‘not re-balancing employment law simply in the direction of employers’, the proposals ‘strike an appropriate balance’ and ‘are not - emphatically not – an attempt to give businesses an easy ride at the expense of their staff.’

“The Supreme Court has explicitly recognised the fundamental inequality in bargaining power between individual employees and employers but the government fails, deliberately or not, to show any empathy.

“At a time when those in employment in the UK need confidence in their future, driving employment rights down to the level of developing economies will create massive job insecurity and is economically illiterate.

“There is no evidence that employers are scared of taking on staff because of employment laws. Anecdote should not drive policy. This is a callously calculated attack on working people.”