Business secretary Vince Cable used his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference to announce an inquiry into employment rights [The Law Society Gazette 6 October]. Cable said up to one million people employed in the UK are unrepresented by current legislation and accused the Tories of a ‘ruthless hire and fire’ agendaaccused the Tories of a ‘ruthless hire and fire’ agenda. The current Government has introduced tribunal fees, reduced the cap on awards for unfair dismissal and extended the minimum time needed in a job for a worker to make an employment tribunal claim. Cable claimed the Liberal Democrats had curbed their coalition partner’s ambitions to reform employment law and said it is now time to re-assess employees’ rights. ‘I believe we should be a pro-business party but we should also be a pro-worker party,’ he said. ‘Today I am launching a wide-ranging enquiry into one million workers who don’t have full employment rights’

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