500 businesses / Home Office backs down

More than 500 businesses have now signed the petition to boycott the foreign workers register. Along with a variety of parallel initiatives, we have made it abundantly clear to government that this proposal is not acceptable. On Sunday the government started back-tracking. Justice Greening, the Education Secretary, briefed an interviewer that firms would not be required to publish details of their foreign employees as originally proposed. This is definitely a positive sign. However it appears the government still intends to require firms to record and submit data on foreign employees so it's not the end of the story. We've been waiting for further clarification but so far there's been nothing. We'll share updates as further details emerge. Meanwhile thanks to everyone who signed the boycott. It's inspiring that so many people feel strongly about this issue and are willing to take a stand. Yours : Charles Armstrong