Nick Clegg ‘never supported’ coalition scheme to make firing workers easier

THE DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has hit out at plans to make it easier for businesses to fire workers, saying he has never supported the scheme.

Mr Clegg said there is no evidence that creating “industrial-scale insecurity” among workers will help secure new jobs.

His comments are likely to foster divisions within the coalition over the controversial “compensated no-fault dismissal” scheme, contained in a report for Vince Cable’s Business Department by venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft.

Speaking at a Sutton Trust conference on social mobility in central London today, Mr Clegg said: “I don’t support them and I never have. I’ve not seen any evidence that creating industrial-scale insecurity amongst millions of workers is a way of securing new jobs.”