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The Conservative Party launched a scathing attack on the Government's over-regulation of business with the release of its election manifesto last week.
The manifesto claims that the Government is controlling business through regulation, and that the Conservatives would free businesses to serve their customers.
They are proposing a new Deregulation Commission, which would scrutinise all regulation and have the power to send it to Parliament for full debate.
The commission would calculate through an independent audit the cost of government regulations for business. It would then set regulatory budgets for each government department alongside their financial budgets, which would be reduced every year.
Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary David Heathcoat-Amory told Personnel Today, "We have a government that does not understand business. Few of them have ever worked in any sort of commercial environment. It is all a theory to them.
"The accumulation of red tape has gone too far and it has to be reversed."
Business taxes would also be pared back, with a Conservative government abolishing the new climate change levy and IR35, the new tax rule for subcontracted employees.
Heathcoat-Amory said, "We want well-paid staff in secure employment - we realise that this can't be done by passing a law but by promoting the competitiveness and productivity of British business, which is now more than ever exposed to the chill winds of international competition.
"We want to get business costs down, clip red tape and allow managers to manage, while not dismantling employment protection, which is essential."
The Conservatives would also change the UK's relationship with the EU so that new directives could be effectively resisted.
Heathcoat-Amory said, "We now face an endless stream of employment and business regulation. We would, therefore, do our best to halt that."
The Labour Party manifesto will be released this week.
By Mike broad
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