About time the government pulled out their fingers and started to protect workers the same as in Europe instead of us beng the 'easy' option for closure.
easy tiger. If we had the same 'protection' as mainland europe most of us wouldn't have a job to loose. Like all things, the big picture is dramatically different to any cherry picked viewpoint.
The majority of EU investment comes into the UK, because our employment marked is so flexible.
Anyhoo, in answer to the origonal question - employment law is very very complicated and in many cases the line is fine and really only a test case in an appeal court decides what the 'law' really is.
LIFO is,
AFAIK, not 'illegal' per se, but currently assumed to be sufficiently contestable which is why most companies use more objective criteria. Personally I would ask BALPA or another union, or a freindly employment lawyer.