Letter: Safety laws are not a luxury

YOUR front-page report 'Heseltine to scrap safety laws' (14 November) on the apparent intention to scrap a range of health and safety regulations at work is cause for the most serious concern.

Already Britain's record in this field is poor compared with the rest of the European Community. There are far too many avoidable injuries and even deaths at work.

Michael Heseltine's leaked plans underline the Government's indifference to safety at work, and adds to its indifference to low pay, employment rights and anything else that imposes obligations on employers. Britain is to be turned into the social dustbin of Europe, with British people being offered as workers without the rights and protections taken for granted elsewhere. The Government must be told this is a deregulation too far. Giving the bad employer a licence to kill with impunity is one Victorian value we can do without.

Bill Morris

General Secretary, TGWU

London SW1