The many ‘bonfires of red tape’ we have been promised by successive ministers should, surely, by now have left us with dozens of smouldering piles of ash littered across the countryside – but the reality has amounted to little more than the odd spark and occasional wisp of smoke, writes Paul Millard.

We had the Macdonald task force in 2011 which recommended axing or changing hundreds of rules and regulations but in spite of all the promise of that review, there was little real change on the farms and in the fields.

Now Defra has launched a ‘Red Tape Challenge’ which promises a comprehensive review of regulations affecting agriculture, animal health and welfare, plant health and forestry.

To be fair, many rules and regulations arise out of a genuine need – a lot of health and safety regulation comes from an attempt to tackle a genuine problem – the issue has always been the gilding of the lily that seems to go on – particularly in this country where ‘gold plating’ of the regulations coming out of Brussels has given birth to a whole industry.

The Red Tape Challenge promises to address that culture and will also look to remove barriers to growth by freeing up businesses from overly complicated red tape and regulation.

Effective regulation doesn’t mean shackling a whole industry. At some point we have to trust people to do what they have, largely, done pretty well for generations – producing food for the people and looking after and managing our countryside.

  • Anybody who has a suggestion for improving regulation or reducing red tape can send their ideas to the CLA by email at southwest@cla.org.uk