M&S chairman Archie Norman has become the latest retailer to raise questions over Labour’s plans to overhaul worker rights as he argues the UK risks being unable to attract investment.
Norman told The Telegraph that the country’s biggest problem going into a general election was a “lack of growth in productivity and investment”.
He said: “Any incoming government should consider carefully whether a package that reduces flexibility, makes it more costly to hire people, and seeks to bring unions back into the workplace will help attract new investment.”
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Labour has promised to secure a “new deal for working people” if it is successful in the election, which will include scrapping qualifying periods for full employment rights, ending zero-hour contracts, giving staff the right to claim unfair dismissal after day one of a new job.
However, Norman argued the country already has “some of the best employers, terms and practices in the world”.
“Of course there are exceptions but in a knowledge-based economy most businesses are very focused on building motivated engaged workforces,” he said.
The M&S chair copies Currys boss Alex Baldock’s sentiment about Labour’s proposed overhaul.
Baldock told The Telegraph last month he would be “very loath” to see probationary periods axed as it was a “really important” practice for businesses.
“The more restrictions that you put in place, the less flexibility you allow in businesses’ relationships with their colleagues, the less likely businesses are to hire and the less likely they are to invest.”
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