MEP urges Labour to cut red tape

Local Conservative MEP Emma McClarkin has welcomed the EU’s renewed commitment to cut red tape by 25% by 2012 after the European Commission last week published a report updating its plans to meet this target.

One of her five pledges in the European election campaign in June was to fight for businesses across the East Midlands by cutting red tape and stemming needless bureaucracy and over-regulation from the EU. Consequently, she is pleased that the Commission last week outlined the current administrative costs and pledged to look at areas where red tape can be reduced. However, Miss McClarkin believes that the EU needs to go even further by stopping legislation.

Miss McClarkin also warns that Labour needs to follow suit to stop killing local businesses by gold-plating EU legislation and piling more burdens on them. 

She said, 

“A key reason why I stood for election in June was to campaign against and reduce the maze of EU bureaucracy imposed upon local businesses in the East Midlands.

“I welcome the Commission’s admirable target of a 25% reduction of administrative costs by 2012. However, Europe has a track record of setting ambitious targets in many fields and then failing to meet them. I will, therefore, remain vigilant in tracking the Commission’s progress in achieving this target.


“Whilst I am appreciative of the European Commission’s pledge I lament the endless reams of red tape that this Labour government has piled onto local businesses. It is alarming that half of all firms and businesses planning to close or cut jobs cite excessive red tape as their reason for doing so. The incompetency of the government is clear when 27% of local businesses say they are put off from expanding because of the bureaucracy involved.
 
“The Labour government whose gold plating of EU legislation, coupled with their insatiable appetite to control local businesses by tying them up in reams of red tape, is actively hindering our local economic recovery and contributing to the fact that we are currently in the longest recession in UK history.

“I remain committed to freeing business from the yoke of excessive regulation. We need a massive overhaul of the UK’s current regulatory framework to allow our local businesses in the East Midlands to flourish, prosper and grow.”