Britons born free are now in chains...

FOR decades, even centuries, we British have prided ourselves on being the free-est people in the world, subject only to the laws passed by our democratically elected parliament. But can we really go on preaching what has now become a canard? For three new masters dominate all our lives – not one of them deriving from laws passed by three readings in the Commons, endorsements in the Lords and assent by the sovereign.

One is petty bureaucracy – not just a few enacted laws but thousands and thousands of rules and regulations deriving from bureaucrats and quangocrats. Daily we are told you cannot do this, this and this without permission but you must do that, that and that or be penalised. I do not refer to the lofty mandarins squabbling among themselves over the departure of the too-sensitive Sir Philip Rutnam, but the countless army of pettifoggin’ jobsworths further down.

Red tape costs at three levels. It costs to create and to enforce – both costs picked up by the bureaucracy itself. But far and away more costly is compliance – a huge bill met daily by all of us.We once thought most red tape came from Brussels via the EU but that overlooks “gold-plating”. This is the practice of taking an EU “directive” (which the French and others ignore) and then making it far more complicated and burdensome. That is done by our own bureaucrats with no political interference. We were told that after leaving the EU there would be a demolition campaign of red tape. It has not even started yet.

Our second new master is the computer, which we were once told would be our obedient servant. In fact the computer now rules us all, its decisions, even if completely flawed by the never-ending “glitches”, ruthlessly and unquestioningly enforced. That was how hundreds of sub-postmasters were hounded, ruined and even imprisoned for embezzlement when they had done nothing wrong and were utterly honest men and women.

The Post Office spent 20 years and £120million fighting to prove they could not be wrong. Well, they were; and lives were ruined. Last December it finally capitulated after spending £32million on lawyers – and it’s all our money. But perk up – Paula Vennells, in charge for seven years, walked away with £2.2million in bonuses, a CBE and a job in the Cabinet Office – another example of rewarding and promoting failure. What is the point of working like a dog for years to make something of yourself?

Join the bureaucracy, show zero talent and rake it in.

Our third new master is the one we never see – the hidden camera. We Brits are now the most surveyed people in the world – photographed an estimated 300 times a day going about our lawful business. If this was for the detection of true criminals – no problem. But 90 per cent of these images of us are to enforce petty regulations that harass us all and penalise accidental non-compliers.

Out in the lead are the secret traffic cameras which will see you at five mph over the limit even on an empty road and deduct points from your licence – by computer again. Lose 12 and you are off the road – without even knowing what you did wrong.

If Boris Johnson really wants to make himself the most popular premier in memory he should declare a real war on these three burdens on all our shoulders and pockets. But will he have the nerve? He would be up against a monolithic enemy – hundreds of thousands of jobsworths who actually contribute nothing to national wealth or contentedness but suck billions from the common weal.