Copyright dailymail
Last week, the Business Secretary Peter Kyle described the UK economy as being in a 'growth emergency'. He's right, of course: our economy is stagnant, with next to no growth and a soaring cost of living. The only thing growing is the national debt and its eye-watering interest. By the way Kyle spoke, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was in opposition – not in Government –and it wasn't Labour responsible for this mess. But the truth is, we aren't growing because of choices Rachel Reeves and her colleagues have made. Their anti-business tax grabs and regulations are stifling the economy and driving wealth creators overseas. And things are about to get much worse. Take their infamous Employment Rights legislation – or as I call it, the 'Unemployment Bill'. The brainchild of the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, it has businesses big and small united in fear. By the Government's own admission, it will heap £5 billion of costs on to struggling firms, making it more expensive to hire. That's on top of the £800 per worker Rachel Reeves has levied on employers through her National Insurance hike and her raising the minimum wage – not to mention the suite of taxes she could smack businesses with in her Budget next month. The burden on small firms will prove too heavy – and that means job losses and firm closures. Even larger companies, which might just be able to cope, will hold off hiring – and start firing – to cut costs. In fact, many already have. A survey of businesses worldwide by recruitment firm Manpower revealed last month that hiring plans in the UK fell by 17 per cent in the past year – a fall nearly double that of the next worse country. It's staggering hypocrisy, then, to hear the Chancellor talk about how she wants to cut red tape and free businesses from unnecessary rules, when her own Government is doing the exact opposite. If lightening the burden on business is the aim, she need look no further than the disastrous Employment Rights Bill. Joblessness has been rising every month since Labour took office. Since last year's Budget, more than 250,000 people have found themselves out of work – a jobs crisis that is hitting young people disproportionately. Britain's jobs market is already teetering but this Bill will kneecap it for good. Why? Because it makes it easier for workers to down tools, causing the chaos we saw in London last month when the strike barons ground the Underground to a halt, again. Or we'll witness dangerously understaffed casualty departments, the likes of which are expected next month when resident doctors plan a mass walkout. The Bill is nothing but a Strikers' Charter and a sop to Labour's union paymasters. And employers know it. A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development revealed last week that more than half of firms said they felt industrial action would increase over the next year, and more than two thirds said unions still have the power to cause major problems for our economy. So it's little surprise employers are desperate for the Bill's strike provisions to be watered down – chief among them is Labour's removal of the 50 per cent turnout required at ballots for industrial action to be valid. It's not too late, however. This week, the Lords have an opportunity to inject some business sense into this jobs-destroying Bill. Any responsible government would accept their advice – be it keeping the 50 per cent strike ballot threshold, or a cross-party amendment to stop union subscriptions automatically sloshing into so-called 'political funds' used to prop up Labour. But the Government is too weak to stand up for ordinary people who want to get on, work hard and grow businesses. Too weak to say no to the lawfare specialists who dictated the Bill and the wealthy trade unions it serves. And too weak to do what is in the country's best interest and give our economy the tools to grow. With very little business experience or acumen among their ranks, Labour would rather bury its head in the sand than listen to employers. But they must heed their call: if you want growth and jobs, stand up to the union bully boys and change this dreadful Bill.
