Commenting on the announcement from the UK government that it will cut the consultation period for large scale redundancies by half from 90 days to 45 from April, SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Dr Eilidh Whiteford said:
“At a time when families across Scotland will be looking anxiously to next year for greater economic certainty and growth, the idea that it will become easier to make people redundant will shock many.
“The 90 day period is designed to ensure that all possible alternatives to redundancy can be properly explored - reducing that period by half will restrict abilities to redeploy people or look at other employment opportunities.
“This is a strong illustration of how the UK government is imposing bad policies that the people of Scotland do not want, and that we can do things differently, fairer and better with the powers of independence.
“In Scotland, the SNP Government offers a number of programmes designed to help employees caught up in large-scale redundancies, such as the Partnership for Continuing Employment. These need time to work, and by slashing the time in half in this way, people in Scotland could be losing out on vital support.
“The bizarre claim from Jo Swinson that this measure is aimed at helping workers epitomises the ‘scrooge’ attitude at the heart of the Westminster Government."