Labour accused of “old-fashioned interventionism”
Conservative deregulation supremo John Redwood today promised a “major” deregulation bill in the first parliament and a reduction in red tape of up to 25 per cent if the Tories win the next election.
Speaking in a press conference this morning, Mr Redwood said he had received approval for a major deregulation bill to be introduced in the first parliament following a Conservative election victory.
Launching a booklet entitled ‘Reversing the drivers of regulation’, Mr Redwood said British business felt “very strongly” that it was being over-regulated and there was a “haemorrhage” of jobs to less-regulated parts of the world.
Even the European Union had admitted that its citizens would be 12 per cent better off if they worked under US levels of regulation. Far too much of the UK’s regulation failed to achieve what it was supposed to, or was too expensive for its purpose, he claimed.
He intended to set “regulatory budgets” setting down how much each government department could spend on regulation at or just after the forthcoming election.
The Conservatives would measure the regulatory burden not simply by the number of regulations but by their cost on business, he added. Departments would have an incentive to be honest about the costs as those assessments would form the basis of their budget for the following year, and civil servants would have their minds focussed on deregulation, he promised.
Labour’s approach – which was to ensure any new regulation was counter-balanced by the removal of an old one – was not good enough, as it was possible that a small regulation with minimal cost could be phased out and replaced by a large, costly one.
Regulations from Brussels would be dealt with in a two-step process: they would either be implemented to the bare minimum with full use made of small business exemptions; or they would be added to the schedule of matters to be renegotiated.
He refused to say exactly what percentage of regulations the Conservatives would repeal, but did say that 25 per cent was a “realistic target”.
Questioned about his role in a future Conservative government, Mr Redwood said his office would not be in the DTI as it would have to have oversight of all other departments, including the DTI, to ensure they were not spending more on regulation than they should.
Instead, his job of giving impetus to the deregulation drive would best be achieved from within the Cabinet Office. He would not be looking to have a “huge” staff, he added.
Also speaking at the same press conference, Shadow Industry Secretary Stephen O’Brien also promised “serious cultural reform” to change the way government deals with business.
He accused Labour of “old-fashioned interventionism”, adding: “Over-regulation is a hugely damaging form of stealth tax on British business. It is also the last resort of a Labour government that has given up on taking over control of the means of production.”
Mr O’Brien promised the Conservatives would:
– restructure the DTI so that it aimed to reduce regulation and champion business;
– give each department a regulatory budget that would be reduced each year;
– cap the budgets of regulators;
– reintroduce deregulation orders; and
– improve scrutiny of secondary legislation.
He added: “I am very aware, however, that only a change in culture can tackle the origin or “spring” of regulation.
“For all their talk on so-called ‘better regulation’, Labour lack the appetite for this kind of serious cultural reform.”
