Business leaders in Coventry and Warwickshire have urged the Government to stand by its promise of cutting down on red tape for companies.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce says it is staggered by a potential new raft of employment law at a time when the private sector is bidding to drive economic growth and new jobs.

Proposed changes include flexible parental leave and an extension to the right to request flexible working, but the Chamber is urging Government to think again when it comes to changes to employment law.

Chamber chief executive Louise Bennett said: "The message from Government to the private sector has been clear for the past year.

"They will remove barriers to growth and jobs to allow the private sector to push on and lead the economic recovery as well as create new jobs.

"But these proposals fly in the face of that. I am staggered that they are considering this now when they want companies to take up the slack being created in the public sector.

"These proposals would cause companies no end of grief and cost time too. They sound good on paper but imagine the plight of a small business. If they are thinking of hiring someone but are suddenly told they have to allow new parents even more time off, with little notice, and be even more flexible around working patterns, in many cases they just won't bother to hire in the first place.

"The economy doesn't just require big business to hire new staff. We need one person businesses to grow to have four or five staff and for those businesses with five staff to grow to ten and so on.

"That's how we are really going to get the economy moving and how we are going to drive jobs growth in the private sector.

"We understand that all laws require changing and updating to make sure they remain relevant but employment law seems to be changing constantly.

"It makes it very difficult for business people to keep track of the changes when, really, all they want to do is grow their company, which will create new jobs.

"As a Chamber, we are in regular dialogue with our local politicians and this is certainly an issue we intend to raise for the good of our members."