How to convince ministers of red tape's dangers

Mar 4 2003 By Bill Midgley, The Journal

Whenever two or three businesspeople are gathered together there is inevitably one topic of conversation to which their combined minds are directed.

That is apart from the latest technical innovation in golf, or how a double-digit increase in salary might be achieved.

The topic I am referring to is red tape.

The past few years, stretching well back into the last Conservative administration, have seen the regulation burden grow and there is also much to come, not least in employment law. What concerns me is the apparent unwillingness of Government and civil servants to recognise the terminal damage done to so many of our businesses, particularly small companies.

British Chambers of Commerce has produced damning evidence on the cost to business. This was initially rejected by the Prime Minister, although further evidence has been produced from other agencies indicating just how much damage is done.

These reports have silenced Government but no action has resulted. In my own meetings with government departments and with ministers, there has again been a reluctance to accept the situation.

The response has invariably been justification for introduction of the law rather than acknowledgement of the damage it was creating. There does, therefore, seem a wide divide between Government and business.

Perhaps the reason is that Government and those who deliver its policy have so few businesspeople in positions of authority.

Government often pays lip service to business by including individuals on its various bodies, but there are very few individuals with a deep business background who sit at high levels of Government.

Lord Haskins, of Northern Foods, is an exception and he made valiant attempts to deal with red tape as part of his brief in the House of Lords. But it needs more than one individual, and not necessarily a member of the Government bound by Government policy and constraints.

There seems an aversion to bringing in specialists to assist Government in the UK.

The problem may well lie in the suspicion there appears to be of any individual who has not gone through the democratic process, but business leaders in particular are not prepared to put themselves into this situation, thereby creating something of a stand-off.

These leaders have much to offer, but little time in which to do so. Electioneering is not on their agenda.

Using the best business brains is something from which the Government and the economy as a whole, could well benefit.