On Thursday 30th March, The Daily Telegraph carried an article by John Longworth, former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, until he was forced to resign after expressing a personal view of Brexit (he was mad keen for it). The article was titled "The Government needs to crack on with lighting the great bonfire of EU red tape" (HERE). It might have been in response to widespread criticism that the EU laws mentioned in a similar Telegraph article a few days before (HERE) were either too trivial or non existent.
I assume with Mr Longworth, they thought they were wheeling out a real intellectual heavyweight. However, it seems to me he was heavyweight only in the BMI sense, his body mass index actually exceeding his IQ. He suggests abolition of the CAP and repatriation of fishing policy but doesn't say what any new policies will look like. He also thinks removing external tariffs, more free trade agreements and cutting cheap labour will boost our GDP by 6%. This is the Patrick Minford option that would "eliminate manufacturing" in this country. Putting that aside, which laws does HE actually want to repeal? Well, he talks about an "avalanche of EU law" but mentions only these:
The EU's "precautionary principle" which he says is anti-progress, anti-science. This is a German initiative (‘Vorsorgeprinzip’) stemming from the Bremen Declaration of 1984 and is about not damaging the environment in the long term unless we're sure what we are doing (HERE). It hasn't held Germany back and anyway is now incorporated into the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as into WTO law. He may have to move planet to get rid of this.
The "ludicrous" Ergonomics Directive which seems to have been shelved in 2013 (HERE).
Working at height requirement. Falls from height are one of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries but Mr Longworth does not seem bothered by it and is no doubt quite happy to abseil down The Shard on a washing line while cleaning windows.
Curved cucumber rules. The Telegraph reported these had been dropped in 2008 (HERE) nine years ago!
Finally, he talks about restrictions on overtime. I assume this is the Working Time Directive anyone can opt out of. Speaking in December 2016 (HERE) he said, “Some of it will be to do with employment rights. Some of it will be to do with the fact that people might not be allowed to do overtime that they wish to do,” he said, citing lorry drivers as an example. Drivers hours have been restricted for years before the WTD with drivers being obliged to record hours worked from 1969 for obvious road safety reason. What was he thinking!
Personally, I worry about people at the forefront of Brexit who stumble blindly on with little or no understanding of what they are doing and can't even Google a few facts before rushing into print. He may find his bonfire rather small - if he ever gets to light it at all.
