The new-aapointed Conservative business ministery, Michael Fallon, has said he wants to make it easier for small businesses to hire and fire people.

"We are going to reduce more of the burden of how you deal with somebody when you both agree that it is simply not working out," he told presenter Justin Webb.

Mr Fallon explained that small businesses currently have to go through a tribunal system which is "cumbersome", and that he planned to make things easier by overhauling or scrapping more than 3,000 regulations.

"There's a far better way of doing it through a negotiated settlement than insisting that every small company has to go off to a tribunal. We are going to deregulate further in that area," he added.

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