Mr Cable's objections to cutting "red tape" are damaging the economy, Adrian Beecroft says Vince Cable is a socialist who "appears to do very little to support business", a No 10 adviser on employment law says.Venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft hit back at the business secretary who had dismissed his proposals to make it easier to fire workers as "nonsense".
The Conservative donor told the Daily Telegraph Mr Cable's objections to his suggestions, published in a report this week, were "ideological not economic".
But No 10 said it was doing everything possible to support business.
Downing Street said "some of (Mr Beecroft's recommendations) are being taken forward and some are not".
The businessman was asked to review employment law by Downing Street after David Cameron called for British industry to be freed from "red tape".
His recommendations were broadly supported by Conservative MPs but Mr Cable said plans for so-called no-fault dismissals were "the wrong approach", and it was not the job of government to "scare the wits" out of people.
'Go nuclear threat'Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Beecroft said of Mr Cable: "I think he is a socialist who found a home in the Lib Dems, so he's one of the Left.
"I think people find it very odd that he's in charge of business and yet appears to do very little to support business."
Mr Beecroft blamed the Conservatives' coalition partners, the Lib Dems, for blocking his plans, accusing leader Nick Clegg of always "threatening to go nuclear and dissolve the whole thing if he doesn't get his way with this, that and the other".
Continue reading the main story He is one of the UK's leading venture capitalistsAfter working for computer firm ICL in the 1960s, he joined Boston Consulting Group and then Apax - where he invested in start-up firms and, as senior managing partner, represented its interests on the board of 20 major public and private firmsHe has donated more than £500,000 to the Conservatives under David Cameron's leadershipHe is an honorary fellow of Queen's College Oxford and a big cricket fanHe also criticised the Treasury for failing to "drive growth".Mr Beecroft told the Telegraph that if all of his recommendations were introduced there would be a 5% increase in growth.
He confirmed he backs the delay of new family friendly rules, such as flexible parental leave, although that proposal did not appear in the final version of his report and suggested that key Conservative figures - including former No 10 adviser Steve Hilton - initially backed all his recommendations.
"I'm talking about Steve Hilton, that group and they assured me that David Cameron wanted to do the whole thing. Whether that's right or not I'm not sure but that was the strong impression I got," he told the newspaper.
His report, which was published on Monday, proposed making it easier for firms to sack under-performing staff.
It suggested ending a mandatory 90-day consultation period when a company is considering redundancy programmes and instead called for a standard 30-day period and an emergency five-day period if a firm was in severe distress.
'Long-term approach'The report said outdated regulations were harming the economy and preventing companies from creating jobs.
Changes to employment law, it has been argued, would improve the supply of suitable staff to firms, who would be less afraid of having to make large payouts or face legal action when laying off those who were no longer needed.
In response, No 10 said the government was "doing everything we can to support business and growth".
Asked if the prime minister objected to Vince Cable being described by Mr Beecroft as a socialist, the spokesman said: "I thought Vince Cable was a Liberal Democrat".
Labour leader Ed Miliband had said of the report: "We need an economy based on long-termism, investment and training.
"We need to get away from an economy based on a short-term, take-what-you-can, fire-at-will culture."
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