Oi Redwood! No!

Just a quick message to John Redwood and Cameron: I'd like to keep my guaranteed four weeks of holiday. So I really don't think reducing people's holiday entitlement will really be that popular, especially when we already work the longest hours in Europe. This is another challenge to Cameron to show if the Tories want to stay camped firmly on the right or if they are prepared to compromise and move to the centre ground. He has so far failed to align too closely with Redwood's review, but if he doesn't back it why set it up in the first place? My suspicion is that Cameron does back most of these proposals. We'll see very shortly.

Too much red tape for employers?

John Redwood seems to have devoted his career to reducing government's influence and cutting red tape. He must have been like a kid in a sweet shop when Cameron offered him the chance to prepare a policy paper for the Conservative Party on economic competitiveness.

However, the widely reported recommendations look to be ill thought out, such as opting out from the working time directive - which isn't possible - or just unnecessary, like making it easier to make staff redundant. Britain currently has one of the most successful labour markets in the EU so why change? Especially when employers aren't even asking for change.

I was heartened to read in Personnel Today that employers' lobbyist David Yeandle of the EEF (representative body for manufacturers) said "there is no great demand to get rid of existing employment legislation."