Alan Duncan has attacked the Government after a National Audit Office report revealed that businesses are struggling to cope with regulation and red tape.
Alan, the Shadow Business Secretary, called on Peter Mandelson, Labour's new Business Secretary, to take urgent action to reduce the cost of regulation to businesses:
"The question is whether the new Secretary of State is back to merely to pick up his pension and the prestige, or is he serious about helping businesses to survive the economic storm and address the red tape?"
Despite the dozens of Government programmes to cut red tape, the National Audit Office report found that:
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30 per cent of businesses said it had become more difficult to comply with regulations in the past 12 months; only 2 per cent thought it had become easier
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40 per cent of businesses said they spent more time complying with regulation than a year ago; only one per cent said they spent less
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New regulations have imposed another £400 million of costs on firms in the last year
Alan stressed, “The last thing small businesses need in the current climate is even more red tape when firms are struggling and many jobs are under threat.”
And he said, “The truth is that the Government does not understand business well enough to regulate them effectively.”