The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 26 May 2012

issue 26 May 2012

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The International Monetary Fund suggested Britain should undertake more quantitative easing or even cut interest rates. But Christine Lagarde, the IMF’s managing director, said ‘I shiver’ at the thought of Britain’s deficit in 2010 having been left without plans for fiscal consolidation. Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, made a noise for his side of the coalition by writing in the Sun about the report on employment commissioned by the government from Adrian Beecroft, the venture capitalist: ‘Some people think that if labour rights were stripped down to the most basic minimum, employers would start hiring and the economy would soar again. This is complete nonsense.’ ‘I think he is a socialist,’ Mr Beecroft responded, ‘He’s in charge of business and yet appears to do very little to support business.’ Luton Crown Court heard that a man was paid £80 for the 15 years he worked for a traveller family in Bedfordshire.

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