Ban, mandate, tax, subsidise or give a speech

Robert Colvile has a useful CAPX piece on the dead hand of regulation.

Why Britain needs a regulation revolution

There have been many academic theses written about the powers and role of government. But perhaps the neatest summary comes from an anonymous minister, quoted by former civil servant Tim Leunig.

They would explain to stakeholders begging for intervention that ultimately, there were five things they could do: ban something, mandate something, tax something, subsidise something, or give a speech about something. And of those, only the first four actually did anything.

The whole piece is well worth reading as a reminder that when it comes to cutting stifling regulations the Conservatives have achieved nothing and a Labour government is virtually certain to achieve less than that. Starmer believes in regulation, his party knows nothing else. 

Getting a handle on regulation isn’t a party-political issue. You can believe that some new regulations, or even many new regulations, are good and necessary. But even then, you should surely also want to know how much they cost, and whether they are actually working as you intended.

Regulation is arguably the least scrutinised part of government. But it may well be the most important. At the moment, Government too often sees imposing costs on business as a pain-free solution. Unless that changes, we can kiss goodbye to any hope of growth.