07/04/2009 - Business pleads for less red tape
Unemployment will reach 3.2 million in the third quarter of next year as the economy shrinks by 3%, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned.
And in a bid to offset the deepening recession, it is calling for red tape to be slashed and a three-year moratorium on "non-essential" government regulation that imposes a cost on business. Its latest quarterly survey also recommends that pending laws on agency workers be delayed, and measures such as rate relief be made automatic so that the money will not go unclaimed.
Says director-general David Frost: "With the cumulative cost of regulation on business totalling £77 billion since 1998, it is imperative that the government recognises the huge burden it places on the private sector. This is not the time to scrap regulatory budgets as this is the mechanism that would force departments to take account of the burden of their legislation on business."
He said that the Budget "is an opportunity for the Government to show business that it is doing everything possible to support them. It will be business that drives the UK out of recession and for this reason it is vital that they have the freedom to create jobs and wealth."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
Related links
|
