The tape is red
I’ve lost count of the amount of times businesses have told me that they are fed up with constant Government interference, regulation and red tape. And who can blame them?
There have been more than 14 new regulations every working day under Labour. It is estimated that the cost of new regulations on business over the past decade has now topped £56 billion. This means that the average British company has to spend £14,270 a year implementing new legislation.
The result of this extra burden is that Britain has become less competitive and a less good place to do business. It is then no surprise to see that the UK has slipped from 2nd to 9th place in the international competitiveness league.
I was however even a bit cautiously optimistic when Gordon Brown announced the legislative and regulatory reform bill last year. This bill, according to the Prime Minister, would contain ‘radical proposals for changing the way we regulate.’
However, the Financial Times reported this week that the law has yet to cut or even amend a single regulation! In fact the Treasury actually increased red tape by 7%. It is yet another example of the need for central power to be dispersed to a more local level.
Regulation has grown over many years, but it now infects our lives inordinately. However, if we are to deal with it we have to tackle the culture of risk aversion which has so crept into our national life, including hanging baskets falling and grave stones toppling over. As they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.