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Economic Growth and Employment

With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, the question is whether the Department is doing what it promised to do for those businesses, which is to give them money and to carry out due diligence in a quick and timely way. It has failed to do so. I do not claim that there was a nirvana in relation to RDAs, but we are talking about the regional growth fund, and we actually want it to succeed. The Government's latest attempt to grow the economy consists of making it easier to fire, not hire, people. Today, to great fanfare, the Secretary of State said that the service required to claim for unfair dismissal should be increased from one to two years. He said this morning that"““this will mean that business can once again have the confidence to hire the staff they need to grow and thrive.””" That is a retrograde step for a Government who think that watering down employees' rights is a substitute for a proper growth plan.