The government must overhaul its “damaging” Employment Rights Bill or risk choking off growth, the head of Britain’s biggest business lobby group will warn on Monday — just two days before Rachel Reeves delivers her second Budget.
Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, will use the group’s annual conference in London to caution that ministers have failed to listen to employer concerns about the bill, which includes tougher unfair dismissal rights and guaranteed working hours. She will argue that eight in ten firms believe the legislation, in its current form, will make hiring harder, acting as a brake on economic growth.
“Lasting reform takes partnership, not a closed door,” she will say. “When eight in ten firms say this bill will make it harder to hire, they are brakes on growth. The government must change course and ask business and unions to forge consensus through compromise.”
Newton-Smith will also warn Reeves against repeating what she described as last year’s “stop-start economy” and further tax increases, noting that the Chancellor’s first Budget imposed £24 billion a year in new business costs. “It feels less like we’re on the move, and more like we’re stuck in Groundhog Day,” she will say.
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