Clause 1 - Purpose
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
9:45 am
Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)
I absolutely agree with what the hon. Gentleman has just said. The Committee is indebted to him for bringing some of the constitutional and historical background to bear on this very important debate. Sir Nicholas, you will not take the Chair for this afternoon’s proceedings, but there is no limit on how late we can sit this evening, although the Committee might want to adjourn to listen to you on the media at about 10 pm. The programme motion does not restrict the amount of time for which we can sit today, although it does next Thursday. Given the constitutional significance of this measure, I am sure that we would not want to restrict ourselves unnecessarily under a guillotine, although as always I shall exercise restraint in the amount of the Committee’s time that I take up.
The title of clause 1 is “Purpose”. The Government have given the impression of activity and concern about the growing burden of regulation, and that is probably their main purpose—to give the impression of activity and concern. They are also keen to use the measure as a means of removing the burden on Government and Ministers in relation to changing the law, and their concern to do that is greater than their concern to remove the legislative or administrative burden on industry. That is clear from an article in yesterday’s edition of The Daily Telegraph. The headline was, “Red tape bill hits £50bn”. The subheading was, “Total burden since Labour came to power is on track to reach £100bn by 2011 even if no new regulations are introduced”.
The Minister was asked to comment on the conclusions of research by the British Chambers of Commerce that was based on official figures, and he responded by defending the Government’s record. If the Minister’s state of mind leads him to defend the Government’s record when they have increased the burden of regulation and the costs on industry—a far greater cost, incidentally, than the annual revenue from corporation tax—that gives us an insight into the true motives of the Government in introducing the Bill.