News from the New Party

Red Tape has left thousands across Britain jobless

If fighting the recession in a bid to secure employment  wasn't hard enough for job seekers across the UK, they also have to battle the legacy of policy decisions that have effectively shut the door to employment, according to new research from the New Party.

Highlighting the practical impact of a new study from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) released on 2 October* showing reducing bureaucracy could create 300,000 new jobs, the results of 1,000 surveys completed for the New Party highlight how  the growth of red tape under Labour has choked businesses and worked to reduce the number of available direct employment opportunities. 

In the surveys employers voice their fears about hiring staff for fear of falling victim to vexatious claims. They speak of feeling disempowered and unable to create opportunities for local people. The comments from one respondent last week sums it up:  "...Employment law is so oppressive that we won't recruit any staff. There's just too much downside." He said he could not see himself employing anyone again unless the landscape changed dramatically. And he is not alone. 

One Chesham-based employer said that while he would like to offer people employment he was "...unlikely to try to expand my business by employing people as it is just too complicated and risky". Many are trying to counter the impact of employment red tape by keeping it in the family. One Bonsall company said: "Because of employment legislation I only employ my son, and do not intend to employ anybody else." 

Other issues concerning employers were the unequal nature of employment legislation and its favouring of employees over employers, and the badly targeted nature of enacted laws and regulations. Many would like to employ staff, they said, as they were finding it difficult to secure sufficiently talented contractors, but legislation was standing in their way.  

National spokesperson for the New Party, Richard Vass, himself a businessman and MD of a £1.3million turnover environmental products company in the East of England, says he understands the frustrations of businesses. He has experienced the impact of poorly thought-through legislation at first hand.

"Many of the people I deal with in my supply chain and customer base are under-staffed and could afford to employ more people. But the risks are too great and so they don't. It is a sad day when businesses, especially small and medium-sized operations, want to grow staff numbers but fear to do so. This is hardly a strategy for reigniting the economy.

"Even worse is that no-one appears willing to tackle the issues. This year's conferences show that Labour is simply trying to dig a deeper hole for itself while the conservatives' desire to Get Britain Working will only happen if all the unnecessary red tape bringing the UK to a standstill is removed to give businesses the chance to breathe," says Vass.

We need to revisit the laws and regulations introduced by Labour over the past 12 years, he says, and remove those placing a strangle-hold on the economy: "Until government takes the time to review employment legislation and tear up much of it, full employment is not just a pipe dream, it’s a joke. 

"We need minimal, well-targeted regulations not the blunderbuss approach of Labour. Here at The New Party we mean business, because business means growth, especially small and medium sized companies. And we have the political will to start cultivating the right environment for it to flourish," he says. 

* The FSB figures are quoted in a new policy paper Regulatory Reform – a route to economic recovery. One of the actions it is seeking is accelerated simplification of the current laws. Employers are currently confused and put off by maternity and paternity law, for example. All of these must be immediately simplified, it says. www.fsb.org.uk