UK Politics: cutting red tape

28/01/2014

Guest post from The Boiling Frog

David Cameron’s speech today to the Federation of Small Businesses pledged to cut red tape – ‘cutting red tape’ is an old chestnut if ever there was one. Naturally though, the reports by the BBC and the other legacy media outlets regurgitate this ‘news’ without any kind of analysis or criticism.

When dealing with the self-styled “heir to Blair” - a title which Cameron at one point sought to distance himself from only then to ‘change his mind’ - undoubtedly we can be sure he was telling the FSB only what they wanted to hear rather than anything of conviction. A deceptive experience most of us are used to when dealing with Cameron.

Where the Blair government often kept announcing the same policies on a regular basis we find that Cameron is also susceptible to the same affliction. Yet what worked in the late 90’s for New Labour is less likely to work so effectively a decade or so on when access to the internet is normal. The impact of hoping people forget is somewhat diminished.

But interestingly the internet is a lesson Cameron seems keen on not learning despite having his fingers burnt in 2010.  We have Cameron who throughout his Premiership so far announces that he will 'slash' 'rein' or 'cut' red tape - promise a war on red tape, a crusade on red tape, a radical plan against red tape. He even invoked Godwin’s law and likened red tape to Hitler.

Thus following on from Blair’s now outdated modus operandi of making newspaper headlines we can see the same 'cut red tape' headlines from Cameron on many separate occasions between October 2011 and October 2013:

• In October 2011, Cameron vowed to "slash red tape" to boost the faltering economy.
  
  
• In November 2011, Cameron appointed an enterprise Czar telling reporters he planned to rein in red tape.
  
  
• In December 2012, the BBC reported David Cameron backed Mary Portas in her review of high streets in which she recommended we cut red tape.
  
  
• In January 2012, the BBC reported that Cameron vowed to tackle red tap by cutting back the "health & safety monster".
  
  
• In March 2012, Cameron pledged a personal crusade against bureaucracy.
  
  
• In April 2011, Cameron promised he would cut "red tape" by ripping up 21,000 rules that were holding back business by using ‘crowd-sourcing’ techniques. Later that same month he launched the "red tape" challenge.
  
  
• In May 2012, Cameron claimed that he had a radical plan to cut “lunatic red tape”.
  
  
• In September 2012, Cameron vows to "cut through the dither" as a new war on red tape is announced to "unlock growth".
  
  
• In October 2013, Cameron declared war on EU Red Tape

• The Environment Agency are this week replacing [unnecessary paeperwork] with an electronic system, eliminating the need for 23.5 million paper Waste Transfer Notes each year.
  
  
• From 2015 all 2.1m small companies will be able to file their company accounts to Companies House and HMRC and annual return information once easily online at the same time.
  
  
• Too many people think that you can’t use a ladder at work: new Health and Safety guidance published this week will make clear that you can, helping the 10 million people who work at height in this country.
  

We are at this point reminded of the Conservative Party Conference in 1992 where the theme was the need to roll back the tide of bureaucracy – a direct consequence of EU membership - epitomised by the invitation of John Major to Michael Heseltine to act as Tarzan “in hacking back the jungle of red tape”. 

Thus Major launched his 'deregulation' drive which was to remain a flagship policy for the government’s term. But in every direction it unravelled. The Deregulation Bill turned into a joke as it became clear it was only dealing with long-obsolete laws such as the Gun Barrel Proving Order 1851, but any legislation related to the EU was excluded from the scope of deregulation.

Michael Heseltine of course was and is a fully committed Europhile as is Cameron, so how revealing that ‘declaring’ an end to red tape is in direct contrast to a commitment to a project where red tape is its raison d'etre.

Nothing has changed in the Tory party for 20 years.

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