Tory leader launches anti-red tape initiative
Tory leader Michael Howard is to provide a new online platform for the public to vent their frustrations about costly red tape in Britain.
The Tory leader is to ask voters to highlight instances of wasteful bureaucracy.
Mr Howard, writing in the News of the World newspaper, said the new website, to go live next week, would allow people to “get the irritation off your chest.”
He said: “As a result of the information we gather, when we are in government we will scrutinise every regulation to see whether it is essential to make life better.
“If not we will abolish it to ensure that the total burden of regulations imposed by government falls every year.
“By setting the British people free from the bureaucrats in this way we will ensure Britain gets better government, not extra government. That will give us all more control over our own lives – and in time that should mean lower taxes.”
The unveiling of the new site, www.cutredtape.org, comes as the publication of Mr Howard’s political philosophy caused a storm of controversy.
He has had to deny claims that his 15-tenet political credo was plagiarised from a declaration engraved on a plaque at the Rockefeller Centre in New York.
A spokesman for the party admitted the credo had been “partly influenced by the design of a commemorative plaque to John D Rockefeller Jnr.”
Mr Howard himself said he had no idea that Mr Rockefeller had issued a similar credo.
The list of principles was emailed to 100,000 Tories Friday and published in a two-page spread in The Times. It includes statements such as “I believe it is natural for men and women to want health, wealth and happiness for their families and themselves.”
Critics have pointed out the similarity this bears to Rockefeller’s declaration that “I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Labour Party chairman, Ian McCartney, said Mr Howard has been caught “red-handed, ” as his “make-believe” personal credo was actually someone else’s.”
He called on Mr Howard to apologise to the British people.
Mr Howard said the “responsibility” for the credo was entirely his.
