Business Secretary Vince Cable’s pledge on better regulation is a positive statement of intent but the Government must now deliver it in practice, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Reacting to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS’s) announcement, which includes a commitment to ‘one in one out’ for new regulation, the BRC said this indication that the Government is serious is welcome but a number of key questions remain.
Stephen Robertson, BRC’s director general, said: “Not all regulation is bad but poorly thought out regulation is. We welcome any practical proposal to reduce burdens and to get rid of costly and unnecessary regulation.
“This announcement is a positive indication of good intent but we’ll reserve final judgement until we see whether the Government delivers in practice.
“A number of key questions remain unanswered. For example, does ‘one in one out’ include the prime source of new regulations – the EU – and will the sector being affected by the ‘one in’ be the same that is compensated by the ‘one out’?
“The impact of the ‘one out’ must be comparable to the impact of the ‘one in’. To be effective, the Regulatory Policy Committee which is to vet impact assessments needs to be more rigorous and independent than it has been in the past.
“The commitment to end gold plating is good but will the Government really do it every time? Will it reduce UK consumer protection that goes beyond the EU requirements? And if it did, would that be sensible?
“Taking a more rigorous approach to EU negotiations is a laudable aim but will the expenditure cuts include stopping officials travelling to Brussels and other EU states? That would make this harder to achieve.”
Source: BRC
