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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to tell cabinet ministers to conduct a full audit of Britain’s 130 or so regulators to ensure they are working to boost growth, including looking at whether some should be scrapped.
Reeves has promised senior bankers that she wants to go further in cutting red tape, as ministers openly speculate about reshaping the country’s regulatory landscape.
“They are deadly serious about regulation and seem galvanised by the battle with the blob,” said one person briefed on a meeting between Reeves and UK bank bosses last week.
The person said the chancellor was writing to cabinet ministers to remind them to scrutinise all the regulators operating in their area and whether they “are configured to encourage growth”.
Reeves’ allies confirmed that ministers would be asked to look at the work of about 130 regulators, which cover areas including finance, fisheries, doctors and drinking water.
Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote to the 17 most powerful regulators on Christmas Eve, demanding to know what they were doing to promote growth.
But the chancellor now wants ministers to look at every regulator in detail, as a debate starts in Whitehall over whether some watchdogs should be culled.
Reeves told the World Economic Forum in Davos last month that having so many regulators “adds to the overlapping burdens that businesses face” and said that every watchdog had “a part to play in tearing down the regulatory barriers that hold back growth”.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, has hinted at the closure or merger of some watchdog bodies: “We have to ask the question: have we got the right number of regulators?”
Reynolds last month forced the resignation of Marcus Bokkerink, chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, in a signal that ministers want regulators to actively promote growth.
Bank bosses at last week’s meeting said the atmosphere was “very positive” and that Reeves seemed determined to deliver on a streamlining of regulation.
The list of UK regulators ranges from behemoths such as the Financial Conduct Authority and Care Quality Commission to smaller bodies such as Natural Resources Wales, the Forensic Science Regulator or the Security Industry Authority.
Reeves desperately needs growth to return to the British economy, but she has been criticised by some consumer and environmental groups for dialling back some of the protections that regulators offer.
The Treasury said: “For too long, we have regulated for risk rather than growth, and that is why we are working with regulators to understand how reform across the board can kick-start economic growth.
“We are rebalancing our approach to regulation, maintaining high international standards and protecting consumers while taking forward reforms needed to support growth and investment, including to enable more informed and responsible risk-taking.”
