The trade and industry secretary has urged the European Union to respect Britain's "different tradition" on labour market regulation.

The call came with the publication of a government paper on the UK labour market and a speech by Patricia Hewitt arguing that greater diversity and choice of working arrangements would become increasingly essential in the future.

She said it was wrong to suggest that Britain had to choose between a job-destroying regulatory European social model and a job-creating deregulatory US model.

Hewitt said the government was committed to full employment and social inclusion.

"We have a range of policy tools available to meet our goal of full employment some involving legislation, as many involving best practice. What I want to do today is ignite a discussion about the route-map for achieving our vision," she said in a speech to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development," she said.

The cabinet minister released three documents on the implementation of labour market policies, with details of a review of the Employment Relations Act 1999, and two discussion papers on the implementation of an EU consultation directive and on employment status.

A paper on employment status states the UK shares the aim of social inclusion with other European governments, describing it as the "bedrock" of the European social model.

"But although we share common values and face similar challenges, different countries have different approaches," the paper said.

Hewitt points out that the UK has ended he opt-out from the EU Social Chapter and had implemented other directives on rights to paid holidays and works councils, with more regulations on consultation and equal treatment still to come.

The discussion paper said the record showed that implemented properly, new rules were not an obstacle to running businesses successfully, but it added the key was to have "an intelligent approach".

But addressing the next steps of European legislation, the government called for member states to learn from each other, adopting a system of coordination and peer review.

"In our view this approach can be both more flexible and faster acting than traditional EU legislation."

The TUC is pressing for changes to reforms introduced by the Thatcher government to allow union recognition rights. It wants ministers to abolish the requirement for a 40 per cent turn-out when staff are balloted.

But Hewitt has already told union leaders that the government will not be "blackmailed" over union power in the workplace.

She fired off a warning that threats to cut union cash to the Labour party would not work.

"We will make decisions on these matters in the national interest," she told the Independent.

"We are not going to be dictated to by interest groups and we are certainly not going to be blackmailed by statements made in relation to the Labour Party. It would be quite wrong for us to take those into account."

But TUC general secretary John Monks welcomed the new reviews, though he predicted "some hard arguments and tough talking" ahead.

"No-one wants to see total uniformity across the EU, but today provides another staging post on our long campaign to give people at work in the UK the same minimum, decent standards as the rest of Europe.," he added.