Responding to the publication of ‘Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy’, CPS Research Director Tom Clougherty said:
‘The Government is taking the right approach to reforming the better regulation framework. We should only regulate when there is a compelling case for doing so, when the benefits clearly outweigh the costs, and when we’re sure that government action is a proportionate response to the risks being addressed. Extending a growth duty to the main economic regulators also makes a lot of sense – boosting our economic performance needs to be central to every policymaker’s thinking.
‘On the downside, one can’t help being struck by the slow pace of change here. It’s nearly seven years since the referendum, more than three years since we left the EU, and 15 months since the ‘Benefits of Brexit’ white paper. And yet the regulatory reform agenda still feels like it is at a very early stage.
‘There is also a clear disconnect between the Government’s admirable plans for improving the better regulation framework and dealing with retained EU law, on the one hand, and its heavy-handed approach to regulating the tech sector on the other. And that’s to say nothing of its failure to get Britain building – whether it’s houses, laboratories, or wind farms, we remain trapped in a thicket of red tape.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Tom Clougherty is Research Director and Head of Tax at the Centre for Policy Studies.
- For further information and media requests, please contact Josh Coupland on 07912 485655 and [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, business, welfare, education, housing and green growth, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity
Date Added: Wednesday 10th May 2023
