However, an apparent conflict of opinion between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on the report's core recommendations means that the proposals will now most likely be shelved.

The document makes 20 proposals aimed at simplifying the UK’s current employment laws, which have been accused of stifling growth; one key recommendation - leaked last autumn - centres on changes to Unfair Dismissal to make it easier to remove underperforming staff.

Other proposals include enabling businesses with fewer than 10 staff to opt out of certain regulations; simplifying employment tribunal rules; scrapping the proposed flexible parental leave scheme and exempting micro-businesses from pension auto-enrolment.

The report has been broadly welcomed by the print industry, with transactional mailing specialist CFH, saying the shake-up was "very welcome and very late". Managing director Dave Broadway said: "Unfair dismissal rules have been a huge burden on business for too long.

"It is practically impossible to sack someone once they are through any trial period. The result? A lot of our staff are now employed on short-term contracts – at least initially, so that if they are rubbish we don’t need to bear the pain for too long."

Minuteman Press director Peter Wise added: "A reduction in bureaucracy that allows greater flexibility in recruitment should be welcomed. Employers should not be penalised in recruiting good people, or taking action where employees are not performing."

The report also recommends an end to a mandatory 90-day redundancy consultation period, instead making 30-days the norm, or even an emergency five-day period if a company is in severe economic distress.

Meanwhile, a proposed reform of TUPE would mean employers would only have to adhere to TUPE'd employees’ previous terms for one year; at present an employer cannot impose its own terms on a new staff member moving from another company.

The BIS published the shortened final version of the report - with several pages of the original draft removed - on its website on Monday, after The Telegraph had leaked the full draft copy.

The draft document, titled Report on Employment Law, was submitted to Downing Street last October and was widely reported to have had the backing of senior Conservatives, including the prime minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osborne.

However, senior Liberal Democrats including the business secretary Vince Cable and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg have torpedoed many of the recommendations, leading the government to backtrack on its support for the Beecroft report.

Cable dismissed the key proposal to make it easier to dismiss underperforming staff as "bonkers". His stance was echoed by trade union Unite, which responded angrily to the report.

National officer Steve Sibbald said: "We already have the weakest employment legislation of all the EU member states, and the claim that these changes will improve things is wrong. If these ridiculous proposals are put through, and I would imagine it will be a struggle to do so, they will be taking us back to the dark ages of the 1930s."