Business groups call for greater red tape reduction

Welcoming yesterdays’s announcement by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, of his intentions to cut business red tape, the Institute of Directors and other business groups have called for a complete culture change across Whitehall, saying that an across-the-board attack on red tape was needed.

The Forum of Private Business said Gordon Brown's pledge to streamline 29 regulatory bodies into just nine and produce a bill in the next parliamentary session to remove redundant regulations is a 'significant step in the right direction.'

However the FPB's Chief Executive Nick Goulding said the Chancellor's commitment to slash red tape had to be matched in all Government departments.

The IoD said that its members would be able to supply plenty of candidates for the Government’s cull of regulations, but that a more root-and-branch approach was required.

James Walsh, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the IoD, said:

“The Chancellor should be using an axe rather than a scalpel as he sets about his task of cutting up red tape. The battle against over-regulation must be about much more than crossing a few items off the statute books