Blair and Brown promise further cuts in regulation

Unions have reacted with dismay to promises of sweeping deregulation made by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair at last month's Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference.

Describing health and safety as an example of over-prescriptive red tape, the chancellor said: "The old regulatory model has been, irrespective of known risks or past results, 100% information requirements, 100% form-filling and, if resources allow, 100% inspection, whether it be premises, procedures or practices."

He boasted that the UK is pioneering "the risk-based approach of the future ... founded on a different view of the world - trust in the responsible company, the educated consumer and the informed employee." Over time, he added, this new model "should not only apply the concept of risk to the enforcement of regulation, but also to the design and indeed to the decision as to whether to regulate at all".

In his speech, the prime minister pledged to set out plans "in the next few weeks" for every government department to "take a 25% cut in the burden of regulation", adding: "We're going to need to work closely with business to make sure it happens."

Responding to the plans, Scottish TUC assistant secretary Stephen Boyd said: "The UK is not over-regulated, as is clearly demonstrated by every international survey on the matter. The UK is sixth out of 155 countries on the World Bank's 'ease of doing business' rankings and tops the OECD list of lightly regulated nations."