IoD reaction to Cameron speech

Dated: 25 October 2010

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech to the CBI, IoD spokesman Alistair Tebbit, said:

“It’s easy for the Government to talk up its pro-enterprise credentials, but what matters is delivery. Getting the public finances in order will certainly improve economic stability, and we are pleased that infrastructure spending is not being cut as much as the last government planned.

“However, the Government’s claim to have stopped the rise in red tape lacks credibility. If anything the red tape burden on enterprise is increasing – ministers have gold-plated the Agency Workers Directive, the Default Retirement Age is to be abolished, flexible working rights are to be extended, parental leave is to be increased, and the extension of the right to request time off for training to small firms has still to be ruled out. If the Government wants the private sector to create new jobs it needs to make it easier for firms to employ people, not harder. Ditching these proposals would be a first step.”

ENDS

Contact Points

Edwin Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED
Tel: +44 (0)20 7451 3392
Mob: +44 (0)7814 386 243
Email: edwin.morgan@iod.com
Website: www.iod.com/policy

Notes to editors

  • The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with upwards of 45,000 members in the United Kingdom and overseas. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum – from media to manufacturing, e-business to the public and voluntary sectors. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies.
  • The IoD offers a wide range of business services which include business centre facilities (including ten UK regional centres [three in London, Reading, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Belfast] and one each in Paris and Brussels), conferences, networking events, virtual offices and hotdesking, issues-led guides and literature, as well as free access to business information and advisory services and a comprehensive Information Centre. The IoD places great emphasis on director development and has established a certified qualification for directors – Chartered Director – as well as running specific board-level and director-level training and individual career mentoring programmes.
  • In addition, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels. These include ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members and senior civil servants. IoD policies and views are actively promoted to the national, regional and trade media.
  • For further information, visit our website: www.iod.com
  • You can also keep up to date with the latest views from the IoD on twitter.com/The_IoD and at blogs.iod.com