Andrew Main Wilson is to be the new chief executive of AMBA, it has been announced on the first day of the Association's conference in Poland.

Outlook

After a record crop of entries, the prize for this year’s most convoluted Christmas-referencing Commons intervention goes to Labour frontbencher Iain Wright who asked Vince Cable yesterday (and this is only a bowdlerised extract): “Given that this is the season of good will…will the Secretary of State ask for permission from his Minister of State at least to undo his electronic tag a notch or two and will not BIS and DECC ministers snuggle up together to watch Strictly, eggnog in hand, and promise to come back in 2013 determined to focus on British enterprise… not departmental infighting and ministerial surveillance?”

£80bn scheme could fall flat as companies shun borrowing, City warns ministers

Outlook So it's good night and good luck to Brendan Barber.

Talks aimed at resolving the fuel tanker drivers dispute and head off the threat of strikes resumed today.

The Government today sparked a fierce debate over employment rights after calling for evidence on whether rules covering the dismissal of workers were too “complex” and should be changed.

One of the most senior members of Nicolas Sarkozy's government has moved to calm tensions between the UK and France, following the war of words sparked by David Cameron's use of Britain's veto to block an EU treaty.

Shareholders should be given the right to veto "fat cat" pay packages, one of Britain's most influential business lobbying groups saidyesterday, on the final day of a Government consultation on executive remuneration.

Simon Walker, the man brought in to clean up the image of the private equity industry in the UK four years ago, has been appointed to run the Institute of Directors (IoD). He pledged yesterday to campaign for lower taxes and less regulation for UK businesses.

The head of an organisation representing the UK videogames industry has won a top personal award for his leadership.

The Government has welcomed moves to shelve EU maternity leave plans which would have cost the Treasury an extra £2.5 billion a year.

In a speech to the Institute of Directors this week, George Osborne took aim at the "costly impact" of Britain's employment regulations. The Chancellor promised that the Government would publish a "wholesale review" of this area of the law. This will apparently look at the unlimited penalties applied to discrimination in employment tribunals and aim to "simplify" the administration of the minimum wage. It will also "review" those regulations that guarantee the existing pay and conditions of workers when their employer is taken over and "reform" the consultation period for collective redundancies. These are all vague words. And it is unclear what the implications will be.

Employment and planning laws should be overhauled in favour of companies to kickstart the economy, business leaders told the Government today.