Lib Dems resist Tory plans to make it easier for companies to hire and fire staff Conservatives in Governmemt said Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has resisted plans for a formal legal consultation on new laws that would allow small companies to make such dismissals. "Cable has been as unhelpful as ever on this," said a Conservative Government source. Norman Lamb, a Lib Dem business minister, will next week announce a "call for evidence" on the dismissal plans. The announcement will not be a formal legal consultation, raising doubts about whether the changes will ever become law. However, a Whitehall source said that the fact that the exercise was not being called a consultation did not mean the Beecroft proposals are dead. There's been a lot of friction over it, so it won't be called a consultation. But it's a effectively consultation, just by another name," said the source. The tensions over employment law come as Lib Dems press their argument for the Budget to contain new taxes on property and pensions. George Osborne has accepted the need to tighten tax rules on the sale of high-value properties. He will next month move to close loopholes often used by wealthy foreigners buying British homes. Under current tax rules, someone buying a property can set up a special company which legally owns the home, then sells shares to the individual buyer. The individual then pays tax of only 0.5 per cent on those shares and avoids stamp duty, which is levied at 5 per cent on sales over £1 million. The technique is widely used by the buyers of very expensive houses in London, who include many wealthy foreign nationals.