AWR and Working Time Directive are 'unnecessary burdens'
David Cameron has renewed calls to scrap excessive EU red tape for employers as he warned that the laws intended to protect workers were undermining jobs growth.
Speaking to global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Prime Minister said that continuing to allow unnecessary bureaucracy was “madness” when economies across Europe were in such a “perilous” state.
In spite of the economic and employment challenges, EU legislators are “still making life even harder”, he argued.
“In the name of social protection, the EU has promoted unnecessary measures that impose burdens on businesses and governments, and can destroy jobs. The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), the Pregnant Workers Directive, the Working Time Directive (WTD). The list goes on and on,” Cameron said.
“And then there’s the proposal for a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). Even to be considering this at a time when we are struggling to get our economies growing is quite simply madness.”
He said that the European Commission’s own analysis had found that FTT could reduce the GDP of the EU by 200 billion euros, cost nearly 500 thousand jobs and force as much as 90 per cent of some markets away from the EU.
In terms of global competitiveness, Europe could be “left behind”, he warned, as growth in China, India and Africa accelerates.
UK employers have also expressed concerns about the impact of AWR pushing up the cost of hiring temporary staff, while the full imposition of the WTD – if the UK’s opt out is removed - would affect NHS workers’ flexibility.
The Prime Minister urged other European leaders to be “bold” and follow Britain’s pro-business agenda, which would mean reducing the “burden” of employment rules.
He highlighted how the UK had slashed the cost of the welfare state, cutting public sector jobs, freezing pay and raising the state pension age saving £5.5bn in the first financial year.
Cameron’s comments came in the wake of speculation that the UK, and Europe, face the spectre of a double dip recession. Yesterday, official figures revealed that the UK’s GDP had dropped by 0.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2011.