I recently held another of my meetings with representatives of Bury businesses. As usual a variety of concerns were aired. Some are specific to certain sectors others are of a more general nature. One continuing complaint is the availability of finance. I attended a meeting with the Chief Executive of the British Bankers Association and representatives of all the major High Street banks. It is perhaps not surprising that the views of the Bankers are at odds with those who complain to me. One reason for this is that those who are happy with the performance of their bankers do not often bother to contact me whereas those who are unhappy are much more likely to do so.
Another frequent area of complaint is the continuing problems caused by the complexity of employment laws and the risks involved in taking new employees on. I was particularly interested therefore when just a few days after my meeting the Government released the Beecroft Report
Viable long term and secure jobs cannot be created by employment laws but by making life difficult for employers can certainly make it less likely that a potential employer will take on more staff in marginal situations. This is particularly so for small businesses which is why I welcome the reliefs being proposed for micro businesses employing less than ten employees.
Later in the day I visited Miller’s Vanguard a successful employer in Bury and was able to hear at first hand the progress they have made in recent years and about their plans for the future.
David Nuttall 
“Viable long term and secure jobs cannot be created by employment laws but by making life difficult for employers can certainly make it less likely that a potential employer will take on more staff in marginal situations”
David,
What Beecroft – owner I believe of Wonga.com, that friendly company that does payday loans at about 1400% interest – is proposing is to completely undercut the right of an employee not to be fired for having red hair, dressing the ‘wrong way’, not showing enough humility to their employer or any other excuse that an employer might care to wheel out.
It is a direct attack on the security and lives of millions of ordinary people. As it stands, employers have a full year in which to remove an employee that they feel is not suited to their company – a full year, with no comeback – whereas you advocate a regime where, in effect, you remove the rights and job security for millions of ordinary working people at a stroke.
It’s not the enhanced right to hire and fire that’s holding the UK economy back – it’s the lack of growth, fuelled by the lack of consumer demand.
Do you honestly believe that people subject to these proposals in their everyday working lives are going to go out and spend, rather than pulling in their horns and saving like mad just in case their boss suddenly decides they wish – on a whim – to fire them off?
The proposals are absolutely barking mad, and that you appear to agree with them is, frankly, quite disgraceful.
Simon
Hi Simon, if you have watched our MP on tv you will have seen on many occasions how he has attacked the working classes of this country by trying to talk out bills, voting against bills and trying to get rid of the minimum wage, this was done by citing a local business because they could not get staff to work for them and he said lowering the minimum wage would help people get jobs, a typical tory attitude. Our MP purports to be standing up for the people of Bury and is supposed to be a bit of a tory rebel but methinks this is just a facade to give the impression of a independant voice in parliament. I do however give him credit where credit is due and hope that one day this country will get out of the EU but i doubt we will ever get the chance to vote on it. I have noticed he also voted against government proposals on making asbestos sufferers pay the costs of a claim out of their legal aid so leaving the dying people to suffer even more distress. Getting back to the original point of this subject Mr Nuttall said he had never had a strike in his law office, have you ever heard anybody complain when they are on ‘loads of money’ no me neither. On your remarks re Wonga.com, they have just been warned by the regulator to stop threatening people who have taken out loans with this dispicable outfit so it gives no credence to Beecroft views. During my working life i worked for more than 150 companys and that number does not include agencies and i did not need an excuse to jack my job in, if the company was badly run i told them so and sought different employment, sadly this is a fact with uk companys but people like Mr Nuttall do not have a clue what it is like to work in industry and do a proper job with poor conditions and long hours. If you remember Simon the minimum wage was brought in by a Labour government against the voices of the tories including Michael Howerd and the present speaker John Bercow who said it would lead to ONE MILLION more unemployed, how stupid can the the tories get, you don’t need to answer that. People should remember what benefits they get and who fought for them, it was the trade unions who fought for holidays with pay, health and safety regulations sick pay and numerous other benefit
people enjoy today, so you see Simon people will take no notice of our MP or this disgraceful government when they offer more lying policies come the next election and David will be seeking alternative employment as i have told him before. Alan