Climate paperwork scrapped by Badenoch

COSTLY red tape including climate risk reporting will be axed for up to 40,000 businesses under post-brexit reforms planned by Kemi Badenoch.

The Business Secretary is today set to announce reforms expected to save medium-sized firms £150m a year as the Government looks to kick-start growth and improve productivity.

Under the proposals, medium-sized companies would no longer have to spend time and money compiling an annual “strategic report” for shareholders as had been required under European Union rules.

Ms Badenoch will also announce that the number of people a company can employ before it is legally classed as large will rise from 250 to 375.

The move will see 5,000 companies reclassified as medium-sized, meaning they are subject to far less red tape.

Under the current rules, all medium and large companies have to produce an annual strategic report setting out the risks and opportunities they face. For large firms, requirements include detailing climate-related risks and opportunities. Under the new reforms, 37,000 existing medium-sized businesses and the 5,000 reclassified large firms will no longer have to comply.

When Britain was in the EU, it was Brussels that set the thresholds which determined whether a business was classed as small, medium or large. The reforms are estimated to save businesses £148m a year.

Rishi Sunak will today announce a package of pro-business reforms. During a visit to Warwickshire the Prime Minister will pledge £60m in new investment to help smaller businesses take on 20,000 more apprentices.

He will also unveil a new taskforce designed to boost private investment into women-led businesses.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said: “All this ongoing Conservative chaos comes with a cost. Under the Tories we have seen a record high in the number of businesses having to close their doors for good.”