In 2016, the department for Business, Innovation & Skills boasted that the UK had the lowest burden of regulation in the G7. Photo: David Mirzoeff/Press Association. All rights reserved.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on 28 June 2017, Jeremy Corbyn described the fire at Grenfell Tower as the “terrible consequences of deregulation and cutting corners”. He referred to a 40% cut in local authority budgets, leading to fewer inspectors and 11,000 fewer firefighters, and said that “this disaster must be a wakeup call” to the “disastrous effects of austerity.”
Cutting the Red Tape
Since 2011, consecutive governments introduced a “one in, one out”, then “one in, two out” and now “one in, three out” rule for any new regulations. Regulations costing businesses one, two and now three times as much must be removed before any new regulation imposing costs can be introduced. Regulations have been seen as bad for business, characterised as constricting and stifling “red tape” which requires removal.
