The UK Conservative Government announced in a party conference its measures to continue deregulating business and cutting red tape.

The proposal revealed by Chancellor George Osborne includes plans to implement a new form of employment contract enabling staff to effectively give up a large majority of their statutory employment rights in return for shares in the company they work for. The scheme has been dubbed ‘rights for shares’ or more formally, the ‘owner-employee contract’ and is to be implemented by April 2013.

Present laws in the UK ensure employees have access to a significant number of employment rights to protect …