Gordon Brown promised a 'more humble' approach to regulation last night in an effort to heal Labour's faltering relationship with British business.
In his first speech as Chancellor of the newly re-elected government, Brown told his audience at the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) annual dinner of senior business leaders that he would change the culture of the government's approach to regulating business.
Rehashing a theme from Labour's pre-election business manifesto, Brown said the government will overhaul the way regulatory authorities oversee companies and that future inspections will only be imposed on 'rogue traders', or firms with poor or unproven records of meeting standards.
This, he said, will result in 1 million fewer inspections, the abolishment of 29 enforcement and inspection bodies and a 25% reduction in form filing.
Together with the government's proposed scheme to scrap or simplify an existing regulation for every new piece of legislation passed, Brown said he hopes the moves will 'build a new trust between business and government.'
"The new model must be quite different," Brown said. "And to make sure this agenda happens - an agenda that, let's be honest with ourselves, does require a culture change in government - our programme of reform will be led by recruiting from the private sector."
The Chancellor also restated his vehement opposition to the European Parliament's plans to strip the UK's opt-out of the EU's Working Time Directive.
He also promised to block any limits on British workers exceeding the 48-hour workweek maximum, setting the stage for the UK's upcoming presidency of the European Union.
"Our proposed agenda will be labour market reform; so we will resist the opt out being removed to the 48 hour week," Brown said. "Regulatory reform, product and capital market reform, so you have access to European markets, and liberalisation of the single market, the greatest single market in the world."
Brown, however, did not rule out raising business taxes over the next year, a fear many business leaders expressed during the recent election campaign.
