MINISTERS have failed to deliver on the Government’s pledges to cut the burden of regulation stifling British business, a report for the British Chambers of Commerce has concluded.

Contrary to government claims that red tape is being vigorously attacked, today’s analysis finds that the number of significant new regulations brought in during the first six months of last year was 46 per cent higher than in the same period in 2003.

The report also challenges ministers’ claims that the bureaucrats of Brussels, rather than the Government itself, is to blame for the rising amount of red tape affecting companies. Instead, it finds that “the vast majority of new regulations come from Britain”.

The report for the BCC was produced by Tim Ambler, of the London Business School, and Francis Chittenden and Chanyeon Hwang, of the Manchester Business School, giving it the authority of two of the country’s leading university institutions. It deals a heavy blow to Labour’s efforts to woo the business vote.

Speaking to The Times last night, Mr Ambler described the Government’s claims to have slashed regulation as “a smokescreen”.

He said: “(The Government) says there is a huge amount of deregulation going on, but it’s just nonsense frankly.”

Using an analysis of the number of “regulatory impact assessments”, which have to be carried out each time that a significant regulation is brought forward, the report also attacks Gordon Brown’s Budget claims about the Government’s “assault” on red tape.

While the Budget Red Book said that more than 400 deregulatory measures had been delivered under the 2003 Regulatory Reform Action Plan, only four such red-tape cutting measures took effect last year, the BCC report finds. Mr Ambler noted that even one of these four deregulatory moves was the scrapping of a “trivial” rule that banned people from buying methylated spirits on a Sunday.

David Frost, the BCC’s director-general, said: “The measures to cut regulation in the Budget are very welcome but now they must actually be implemented.

“Our report has found that employers are still waiting for the Government to deliver their previous promises to cut unnecessary regulations.”

The BCC called for future regulatory impact assessments to be handed over to independent experts to ensure they give an objective view of the burden of new measures on business.

It also repeated calls for “sunset clauses”, under which new regulations will expire and said that ministers should be required to sign a statement affirming that each new regulation introduced is implemented at the least cost to business.

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