Reeves to meet regulators as Starmer pledges to cut red tape
Rachel Reeves will meet with regulators on Monday, as the government sets out to cut the cost of regulation on businesses by a quarter.
The Chancellor has summoned eight regulators to Number 11 Downing Street, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Health and Safety Executive.
Sir Keir Starmer told Morning Wire in an exclusive article: “It is an outrage that government does not know how much it costs business to comply with the regulations imposed on them”.
In the latest move to streamline the cost of quangos, the chancellor will announce the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies – a specialist body tasked with deciding which companies should become community interest companies – will be rolled into Companies House.
The Prime Minister told Morning Wire: “To raise living standards and deliver on our plan for change, we need a thriving economy that rewards those that take risk, creating jobs and opportunities up and down the country.”
“But Britain today is a harder place to do business that it was a decade ago, and I’m determined to change that.”
This fresh intervention follows the shuttering of the Payment Systems Regulator, and the Prime Minister’s announcement that NHS England will be wound down to avoid “duplication” in the running of the health service.
However, it has been reported in The i on Monday that the UK Health Security Agency will continue on in its current form.
According to a report in The Sun, the government and its “footie-mad” PM is considering axing the independent football regulator next.
Starmer added: “Our plan will codify clear KPIs for our regulators on sticking to agreed timelines and processes: failure to do so will have consequences.
“To deliver economic growth – the number one mission of this government – we need to unleash the power of the private sector.”
The meeting at Number 11 comes as the OECD is poised to publish its interim economic outlook mid-morning on Monday, and the Treasury will be hoping that the projections include some much-needed good news.