11 March 2016

The latest amendments to the Trade Union Bill attempt to balance the law to be less punitive to the labour movement, and have been made by both Labour and Conservative peers.

04 March 2016

By Keith Ewing, President of the IER

Clause 10 of the Trade Union Bill contains a pernicious and vindictive attack on trade union political freedom.

04 March 2016

By Stephen Devlin, the New Economics Foundation

Yesterday, the government announced it intends to cut so-called ‘red tape’ for businesses by a further £10 billion.

03 March 2016

By Professor Mark Freedland

In May 2015, the researchers of the House of Commons Library identified the United Kingdom’s ‘self-employment boom’ as one of the key issues for the 2015 Parliament. They pointed to a growth of self-employment to a (then) ‘record high of 4.5 million in 2014’ (now apparently increased to 4.6 million), a growth which was ‘likely to reflect both temporary and permanent changes to the economy, together with government policy, particularly on tax and welfare’, and which meant that ‘currently around one in seven people in employment are self-employed in their main job’. They linked this to the growth of a ‘grey economy’ of tax evasion and pointed to ‘the implications of growing numbers of individuals with less predictable income and weaker job security’. (The same implications could also be drawn from the parallel and not unconnected phenomenon of the rise in zero-hours contracting for employment.)

26 February 2016

German Magistrates Association

We are grateful to John Hendy QC who has brought to our attention this highly significant public statement by the German Judges on TTIP (and CETA). The statement offers a forthright opinion on proposals from the European Commission (16.09.2015 and 11.12.2015) regarding the establishment of an investment tribunal in TTIP.

23 February 2016

By Mark Freedland and Jermias Prassl, Oxford Human Rights Hub

Over the course of the past year, we have repeatedly highlighted the problems facing workers on so-called ‘zero-hours contracts’ (‘ZHCs’), and criticised the government’s inadequate regulatory response in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, section 153 of which rendered exclusivity terms in such work arrangements unenforceable as against the worker.