Stripping red tape

Conservative governments have regularly promised to release businesses and consumers from the stranglehold of red tape, yet still the burden has grown. In part, that was a consequence of our membership of the EU, and the regrettable tendency of British authorities to gold-plate every pettifogging diktat emanating from Brussels. But in the UK, too, politicians and civil servants have found it difficult to break with the assumption that the state can and should fix every perceived problem via government action.

It is obviously positive that the Government is expected to resurrect the coalition-era “one in, two out” policy for regulations. It was credited with removing around £950million more in burdens on business than were introduced in 2011 and 2012. Even when there is a case for keeping regulations, Brexit freedoms mean that these rules can be rewritten with UK circumstances in mind.

Yet the pandemic has shown that the state’s appetite for unnecessary, disproportionate and inefficiently implemented regulation is undiminished. There is also now a bewildering array of arms-length bodies and quangos, little public sector fiefdoms with an interest in keeping hold of the areas of the economy they oversee. Beyond regulation, the Government is committed to a ridiculous plan to further increase the burden on businesses in the coming years, by putting up taxes. The green agenda is rapidly descending into a bureaucratic free-for-all.

Unleashing free enterprise and individual initiative remains our best hope of rebuilding sustainably after nearly 18 months of lockdown. The Government’s red tape plan would be a good start, but is it ambitious enough?