Peter Jackson column

Dec 1 2005 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

Red tape is to the 2000s what trade union militancy was to the 1970s.

At least in the sense that it is by far the biggest gripe business has with the way government conducts our affairs.

Not surprisingly, business has grown more strident in its complaints as the quantity and scope of legislation and regulation has increased.

But never fear, all is about to change.

The Prime Minister told the CBI on Tuesday that the Government wanted to cut business administration costs, such as form filling, by a quarter.

And, perhaps more important, the day before, Gordon Brown promised legislation before Christmas to introduce a risk-based system on health, safety tax and other issues. This will mean bureaucrats will operate with "not just a light touch but a limited touch".

We were also promised plans to cut the cost of tax administration and simplify tax forms and to establish an audit to ensure EU regulations were not gold-plated.

Forgive me if I don't break open the champagne just yet. It's just that I have a sense of having been here before.

In fact last year Gordon promised a risk-based approach with inspectors targeting bad traders rather than everyone all the time.

Last year he promised reviews of new regulations within the first three years of them coming into force.

Let's hope he means it this time for it is a problem which is doing real damage to British industry.

Earlier this year Gordon Brown - perhaps thinking he might succeed in cutting back on red tape - forecast the economy would grow by 3pc to 3.5pc. He has since indicated that 2pc might be a bit closer, while this week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the true figure was likely to be just 1.7pc.

This is against a background - according to the OECD - of the world economy growing by 2.9pc this year.

This ought to remind us that we compete in a global economy and over-regulation costs money and jobs.