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Red tape or regulation? The two things are very different and the distinction between them matters. No one is in favour of red tape. That there is too much of it is hardwired into the very words. Regulation is different. Unlike red tape, regulation is not inherently one thing or the other. Some is good. Some is bad. Most is a mix of both. Everything depends on the regulation and on what is being regulated.
There is nothing wrong with a debate about regulation. But there will always be the suspicion that a debate framed in terms of red tape is partly a smokescreen covering an attempt to sweep away good regulation as well as bad.
Tuesday's British government report on EU red tape is a case in point. Since no one is in favour of red tape, the business taskforce's demands to slash the EU variety may seem at face value to be mere common sense. Once you start to dig down into the detail of the report, on the other hand, things get a lot more problematic.
The issues raised are less about red tape than about where to strike a balance between the economic interests of employers and the security interests of employees.
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