Knoops hot drinks owner criticizes worker reforms

Knoops' boss has said Labour's workers' rights reforms 'will make it more difficult to find the right employees'.

William Gordon-Harris, whose hot chocolate business has 27 stores in the UK, said the package of employment legislation 'will definitely cause problems for firms'.

The proposals include plans to ban zero-hour contracts and introduce a guaranteed number of minimum weekly hours.

Gordon-Harris said: 'It will make it more difficult to find the right employees. For a lot of independents, it is a very alarming time.'

Despite gloom on the High Street, he said his business was benefiting from a 'lipstick effect'.

The 'lipstick effect' was a phrase coined by the founder of beauty empire Estee Lauder, which explains that even when the economy is in dire straits, women will fork out on affordable luxuries such as lipsticks and perfumes.