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.

The Government is to press ahead with plans to end compulsory retirement at 65 despite calls from business for the move to be delayed, it was announced today.

The Government has scrapped plans to force big businesses to disclose the difference in pay for men and women they employ, on the day it emerged that little progress had been made in bringing women into the boardroom.

Outlook So will the Government have the guts to implement the recommendations made today by Will Hutton's Fair Pay Review? Since this is only an interim report, we won't find out for a while yet but, in the meantime, note one of the arguments Mr Hutton puts forward for a cap on the pay of public sector executives as a multiple of that of junior staff. It is that rather than importing the worst excesses of the private sector, in the name of competing for talent, the public sector ought to set an example in the hope that its opposite number follows.

The outlook for the economy is "inherently uncertain" and recovery will be slower than after previous recessions, the UK's tax and spending watchdog warned today.