Rather, the Labour regime figured it would be an easy way to appease left-wing supporters who hate Pinochet for thwarting a Communist takeover of Chile in the early 1970s and who are disgruntled by Labour's lack of traditional socialist fervor.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Apart from state-backed schemes, Mr Hollande is looking to reforms of the country's rigid labour market regime to provide some relief.

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She said Labour's child protection regime "treated over a quarter of the whole workforce, some 11 million people, as potential abusers" by "requiring them to be monitored as part of an overbearing vetting and barring system".

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