Keir Starmer’s promise to slash red tape and ‘rip out bureaucracy’ is a step backwards for Britain

If deregulation was the solution, our economy would be booming

Keir Starmer’s promise to slash red tape and ‘rip out bureaucracy’ is a step backwards for Britain, not forwards. Of course we need investment and stronger growth across the country, but the last 14 years have shown that widespread deregulation is not the answer.

Starmer’s rhetoric at yesterday’s (14 October) investment summit is familiar to the point of being a cliche. On taking office in 2010, the coalition government launched successive deregulatory initiatives on the basis that they were a barrier to growth. These were repeated again and again under successive Conservative administrations. Yet they left Britain in economic turmoil with low standards and anaemic levels of growth across the country. By framing regulations as obstacles to growth, Starmer is adopting an approach to policy which has been tried and tried again, and has failed. 

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Far from being a barrier, these protections create the stability and certainty that responsible investors value. Good regulations drive innovation, address poor corporate practices, win public trust, open up the closed markets to competition, and reduce complexity for UK businesses – creating favourable conditions in which they can plan, invest, and operate with confidence. Only a small minority of businesses cite regulation as a top challenge. 

The UK is already one of the easiest countries in the developed world to hire and fire staff, set up a new company, or register a property. What’s more, deregulatory experiments have failed on their own terms. Boris Johnson promised to ‘boost’ the country’s economy by launching Free Ports. These eight low regulation havens have since attracted a meagre six businesses. According to the OBR, their impact on UK GDP has been so small it would be ‘difficult to discern.’ 

Due to the combination of our legal system and the massive cuts to regulatory agencies, it’s also a country where wrongdoers can increasingly get away with doing harm. We’ve seen this time and time again in recent years through the sewage that has been dumped en masse into our rivers, the widespread price gouging that occurred during the cost of living crisis, or the tragic lack of oversight over corporate malpractice that resulted in the Grenfell tragedy. The dangers of deregulation are well known and the priority now must be to strengthen accountability across Britain, not weaken it.

In the long-term deregulation carries significant risk. Our research at Unchecked UK consistently shows that both the public and businesses support strong, well-enforced regulations. Our most recent polling with More in Common found that 79% of the public think that regulation is important for creating a strong economy and a stable society. And this holds across all voter groups, including 88% of voters who switched from the Conservatives to Labour at the election said they agreed with the statement. As Labour looks to rebuild Britain it is clear that Starmer’s rhetoric around slashing red tape and ‘ripping out bureaucracy’ is unlikely to sit well with voters.

We need new ideas. Instead of promising deregulation, Starmer should be positioning the UK as a high-standards economy that prioritizes sustainable growth, worker protections, and environmental safeguards. This approach would attract more responsible investors, foster innovation in key sectors like green technology, and create more stable, long-term economic growth. It’s time for a vision of a UK economy built on strong foundations, not quick fixes.

Phoebe Clay is co-director of Unchecked UK, a network of 70-plus organisations naming the case for strong social and environmental protections.

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