Minister makes promise to cut red tape

The Conservative Party had previously supported recommendations made in the Beecroft report, which would have allowed firms to dismiss anyone without reason, so long as they gave notice and paid compensation.

If the correct process was followed, the employer could not have been taken to a Tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Despite support from many Tory MPs, “no fault dismissals” were vetoed by Liberal Democrats in the coalition government.

The fact that the Conservatives now have an overall majority prompted strong speculation that Mr Javid would be returning to Beecroft’s ideas in the forthcoming Enterprise Bill.

But the Secretary of State recently revealed to the Andrew Marr Show that he did not intend to revisit the policy.

“No I won’t be looking at that again,” he told the current affairs programme. “What we will be doing though is looking at deregulation, taking it even further. During the last Parliament we saved businesses from about £10 billion of costs collectively in regulation and I think we can do at least that again.

“The other thing I want to do is help small businesses with some of the challenges they face, not just red tape but especially the issue of late payments.”

The pledge to cut regulation has been broadly welcomed by the Institute of Directors (IoD), but the organisation has said that more detail is needed.

Simon Walker, the IoD’s director general, said: “The Government has got off to a solid start in the new Parliament with a focus on reducing red tape for small and medium-sized businesses.

“But good intentions are nothing without delivery, and companies will be looking to the Business Secretary to spell out exactly where he will find £10 billion worth of cuts to regulation.”

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