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Cut the red tape

August 13th, 2007 · Posted by Skuds in Politics · 3 Comments · Politics

When the Tories pretend to be socially responsible, caring and cuddly they are nothing short of laughable, but when the mask slips and they show their real face they are beyond parody.

The latest scheme is to try pushing the idea of ‘cutting the red tape’ as contained in John Redwood’s new cunning plan. By red tape he means all those pesky little things which give workers some rights and put limits on how much they can be exploited by their employers. Little things like health and safety legislation, protection from redundancy and limits on the working week. I didn’t see anything in there about the Human Rights Act, which was a surprise. That will probably be the next target.

One thing Redwood says is:

We need to extend that experience much more widely across the economy and show that getting rid of unnecessary rules and regulations is creative, is enterprising and extremely helpful to those who need some help in life.

That is all very well. Unnecessary rules are, by definition, unnecessary but his ideas of what is and what is not necessary is where it all falls down. My favourite bit is where he goes on to say:

businesses which did not have to spend money on such regulations could instead invest the cash

Ah yes. You can almost hear the phrase ‘trickle-down’ implied there. Is there anyone who truly believes that businesses would do anything with cash they saved by cutting corners on safety other than throw it at their shareholders as increased dividends, if there is anything left after ramping up boardroom pay?

Earlier today my Dad was talking about social workers. He said he knew one ages ago who failed to visit many of her target families for a variety of reasons. If they were not at home, or otherwise unobtainable, she was not chased by her bosses to keep trying. If she went to visit a child at risk and was told they were away with relatives, there was no pressure on her to follow up, and she always seemed to be home from work by mid-afternoon.

He contrasted this with his daughter-in-law who never seems to get back from her job as a social worker before 6 or 7 in the evening. It may be because she is more conscientious but I think it is also because there is a lot more chasing up by management in social services now.

John Redwood would, no doubt, refer to it as red tape and see it as a bad thing.

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3 Comments so far ↓

  • Gordon Seekings

    When you say “I didn’t see anything in there about the Human Rights Act, which was a surprise.” I’m puzzled as to why you are surprised – even your party have talked of suspending parts of it in UK legislation!

  • Danivon

    There was one good suggestion in Redwood’s paper though, the separation of the BAA airports.

  • Skuds

    Gordon – nothing is perfect and the HRA is no exception, but our knee-jerk reaction is not to scrap the whole thing.

    Danivon – even a stopped clock is right twice a day!