Critically Analyse the Legal and Political System of England Regarding Assignment

Critically Analyse the Legal and Political System of England Regarding the Case Study - Assignment Example The Financial Services Authority and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are the two bodies monitoring the enforcement of the Companies Act 2006 in UK (Cahn 2010, p.19). It should be noted that the Companies Act 2010 contains strict rules in regard to a series of issues, such as ‘the involvement of directors in the trading of their companies’ securities’ (Cahn 2010, p.19) or the approval of critical transactions by the shareholders (Cahn 2010, p.19). However, the key mission of the above Act, as of company law in UK in general, is ‘to facilitate the operation of market forces’ (Hicks and Goo 2008, p.12). This trend is made clear in the following fact: privatization of companies in UK is continuously developed, mostly through the increase of employee share schemes across UK (Hicks and Goo 2008, p.12). The pressure on companies for aligning their activities with existing laws can be differentiated, under the influence of contradicting int erests (for example, the interests of employees as opposed to those of shareholders) and the need for securing competition. 1b. UK law and employee relations One of the most important characteristics of the legal framework of employee relations in UK is its inability to secure employee rights; the fact that the existing laws focusing on employee relations in UK are limited, compared to other countries, is considered as the key reason for the above phenomenon. Moreover, the laws related to employee relations seem to favour rather the employer, an assumption verified through the following fact: traditionally, the length of employment period has been a key term for deciding the right of employees across UK to ask for compensation in case of unfair dismissal (Hollinshead, Nicholls and Tailby 2002, p.519). Even employees in fixed term contracts are often asked to waive their rights to claim compensation in case of dismissal because of redundancy (Hollinshead, Nicholls and Tailby 2002, p. 519). Moreover, for the UK labour law, the rules related to employee relations can be applied only in cases of employees who work on the basis of a contract (Countouris 2007, p.78). This means that the UK labour law does not protect employees who work without an employment contract. In most European countries, employees’ rights are protected even if there is no employment contract; for instance, certain social security rights are recognized to employees who work without employment contract (Countouris, 2007, p.78). On the other hand, there is a series of legal texts addressing various employee relations’ issues; for example the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Wages Act 1986 (Countouris 2007, p.78-79). When evaluating the decision of Marks and Spencer to announce the closure of its stores in France just before the meeting with the employees’ representatives, reference should be made to the following fact: indeed, Marks and Spencer is primarily bound by the UK labour law. The application, though, of the labour laws of the host country, France, where the firm’s stores are located, cannot be excluded especially at the level that the local laws would be in opposition with the UK relevant legal rules. Marks and Spencer operates globally. This means that