Government Policies To Watch

Employment Law  Will the government seek to abolish the law of unfair dismissal, the statutory protection that every employee has after two years' service against being unfairly dismissed? The Coalition government drove down the number of claims in the Employment Tribunal by introducing fees and far greater involvement from ACAS. At the time Conservative minsters wanted to go further and do away with the unfair dismissal legislation.   This would mean that no matter how long you have worked for your employer you can still be dismissed without reason and receive no compensation, save for your contractual notice period. A radical proposal indeed and we will have to see if it resurfaces. The Human Rights Act  Introduced in 1998 the Act brings the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK Law. The European Convention was itself largely drafted by British Legislators after the Second World War. The government's proposal is to revoke the Human Rights Act and to replace it with a British Bill of Rights.   There is currently a draft Bill (in its seventh draft) which no doubt will soon see the light of day. The Government wants to break the link with the European Court of Human Rights and leave our Supreme Court as the final arbiter of our affairs. They also object that in several headline cases the Act appears to promote the rights of criminals above the safety of the British people.   Supporters of the Act note that a British Bill of Rights will limit the application of human rights laws to the most serious cases and are concerned that human rights can only be effective if they apply to all people in all cases; no differentiation can be made between "serious" or "trivial" cases. We will have to see how this develops. Will the government incorporate the European Convention into the United Kingdom or embark on an even more complex process of drawing up an entirely different set of rights.   The Government will also face challenges in the House of Lords, where there are a majority of Labour or Liberal Democrat peers. Referendum on Membership for the European Union  Our Government is not alone in wanting to reform the European Union, though of course everybody has different items on their list. Our government wants to restrict access to benefits to European Union migrants for a period of four years, stop migrants sending child benefit out of the country, protect the city of London's financial markets, resist a European army and prevent Britain having to join the euro. Any new treaty would have to be ratified by all members of states; good luck to all the negotiators! For further information please contact Mark Serby at [email protected] or 011426660 660.