Leatherhead Matters

Last Saturday, the Financial Times  carried an article  by Jean Eaglesham, the F.T.s Chief Political Correspondent, explaining that in 2006, Mr Brown announced “radical proposals for changing the way we regulate”, promising business “the legislative and regulatory reform bill . . . will ensure we achieve this”. However, the Government has failed to axe or even amend a single regulation in the year since the Bill was enacted in November 2006. Indeed, the government has initiated yet another consultation with business as to what regulations it would like to see abolished.

Strange then that that just 3 days later,  on the  Government News Network , John Hutton (Sec of State for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform)  announces that  ”cuts to red tape are saving UK businesses and third sector organisations more than £800 million per year”. The announcement then goes on to detail some examples of cuts in red tape…..not all of which help the Government’s case. For example,

• Public sector workers benefited from a cut in the average length of a school inspection from five to two days.
• The introduction of hand-held data devices will save individual police officers nearly an hour per day.

So the Government are claiming ”cuts in red tape” from more efficiently complying with their own red tape!

It all reminds me of the lyrics of “Windmills of Your Mind” (from the original “Thomas Crown Affair” movie)

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

H/T Dizzy