Red tape doesn’t just hold back businesses — it can also prevent access to medicine

Glynn Brailsford is Chief Operating Officer of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Regulation is pretty irritating at the best of times – irksome, petty, sometimes seemingly irrelevant and often an impediment to growth and wealth creation.

So it’s refreshing to see new Business Minister Michael Fallon’s intention to wipe 3,000 pieces of red tape from the statute books over the next 16 months or so.

Without doubt, it’s a progressive step. But is our approach to unpicking the red tape tangle fast enough? Not if you’re Les Halpin.

Les is a successful serial entrepreneur. But just last year he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. Already, it’s had a devastating effect on his, and his family’s, life.