“The Red Tape Challenge in a way has slightly backfired. People who want more regulation are bombarding the website… if you want to get your voice heard you’ve got to muck in because you’ll be drowned out if you don’t.”

“The Red Tape Challenge in a way has slightly backfired. People who want more regulation are bombarding the website… if you want to get your voice heard you’ve got to muck in because you’ll be drowned out if you don’t.”

That was Business Secretary Vince Cable speaking at the BRC’s Retail Symposium.

Not an attack on retailers but certainly a mild reprimand.

I’m delighted the Government recognises the importance to growth of easing the business burdens it’s responsible for. But it shouldn’t rely on the Red Tape Challenge as the only, or even the main means, of doing that. It signals the right intent but I fear it’s missing the point.

Expecting retailers to scrutinise huge lists of old laws imposes a big demand in itself, but regulatory reform isn’t a numbers game anyway. It’s about reducing the impact.

Repealing World War II rules about trading with the enemy that no one has given a thought to since 1945 may be sensible tidying up but I cannot think of one business that would be helped by it.

Even scrapping relevant regulations isn’t necessarily positive. We might have preferred to be in a different place but we’re here. Retailers have spent millions training staff and setting up systems at thousands of sites to accommodate and comply with the regulations as they stand today. Changing that regime guarantees costs now but not savings later.

What would give a definite boost is a comprehensive moratorium on new regulation for the life of this Parliament. Yes, the Budget promised that for the smallest businesses but surely what’s damaging for a company with 10 staff can’t be justified for one with a thousand.

The benefits could last even longer if a few years’ cold turkey permanently reduced politicians’ addiction to the interventionist drug.

And this logic applies as much to EU directives as to domestic legislation. The UK Government must make its voice heard in Europe to radically reduce and improve regulation, and ensure rules from Brussels aren’t gold plated once over here.

What is often overlooked is the impact of enforcement. Rationalising that also stands to make a much bigger difference than scrapping museum-piece rules.

There should be much more consistency between agencies and areas so retailers can deal more efficiently with trading standards,environmental health, fire inspectors and the rest. And that would produce gains for hard-pressed local authorities too.

Cable acknowledged we’ve heard the red tape-slashing pledges before and we’re entitled to be sceptical but I do sense signs of cultural change in Whitehall. I’m told officials are now more cautious about proposing legislation and the acceptance threshold has moved higher.

I hope that goes further. Kicking the regulatory habit isn’t easy, especially when some campaign groups are saying, “Don’t give up, use more and stronger,” but our economic health depends on it.