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Late yesterday, the new Government announced it would be carrying out a series of key measures designed to tackle excessive regulation.
In a welcome firming-up of the pledges made in the Conservative pre-election manifesto, the coalition said a ‘one-in, one-out’ clause on new laws is in the pipeline, along with a review of all impending legislation which was passed by the previous administration.
A ‘star chamber’ tasked with spearheading the drive to reduce red tape also featured in yesterday’s announcement, along with an intriguing-sounding promise to find ‘non-regulatory’ solutions to problems wherever possible.
Providing they don’t in themselves create more bureaucracy and confusion, these proposals couldn’t be more welcome.
Time and time again, our members tell us that red tape is one of the biggest problems they face as business owners. As a result, helping them comply with legislation is one of the main services we provide to members, either though our specially-written guides or though our helpline advisors.
But for many years, the political elite appeared to be indifferent to business owners’ complaints over the regulatory burden. Firms found themselves forced to abide by an ever-increasing list of ill thought-out rules and regulations, but, by and large, any complaints fell on deaf ears.
Why was this the case? It’s only a guess, but I expect the general consensus was that, as the economy kept growing and business was booming, policymakers found it hard to take complaints over red tape seriously.
Britain was an economic powerhouse, an international success story, so business leaders objecting to a few new laws here and there were surely just having a moan. Those who said the regulatory burden was hampering competitiveness and jeopardising their businesses were simply scare-mongering, in an attempt to get out of filling in a few forms.
Now of course, the bubble has burst and we’ve seen how fragile our place in the world really is. There’s also been a widespread appreciation of the need to rebalance our economy back towards manufacturing and technology, rather than just relying on financial wizardry for growth.
Additionally, I think there’s been a realisation that, with widespread job losses expected in the public sector and large businesses increasingly opting to outsource staff overseas, SMEs are going to be instrumental in creating employment and getting UK Plc back on track.
I suspect the new Government’s desire to reduce regulation is partly based on one or more of the reasons listed above. Whatever its motivation, businesses of all shapes and sizes will no doubt applaud any efforts to reduce the frustrating, time-consuming and costly bureaucratic burden they have been forced to stomach in recent years.
