Leavers have always suggested we are strangled by red tape but at The Treasury Select Committee in October 2015, Simon Tilford of the LSE said the we had similar levels of labour market regulation to other English speaking countries - according to the OECD (HERE page 23). He went on to say:
"When it comes to regulation of services markets and product markets, we have the least regulated product and services markets in the world, after the Netherlands, another EU country. The idea that the EU is some kind of regulatory straitjacket really does not pass muster".
So much for the UK being shackled by bureaucracy! One of the Directives that leavers often have in their sights is the Working Time Directive but he had this to say:
Also, something that has iconic status in the UK when it comes to EU regulations, the working time directive, is a stupid piece of regulation but, if it were having a huge impact in the UK, there would be a spike in the number of people working 47 hours 59 minutes a week. There is no spike. There is a little spike, but there are big spikes at 40 hours and 50 hours. I am not saying it is a sensible piece of regulation.
It is as I have always thought. The WTD has virtually no effect whatsoever. It doesn't impact business a lot, doesn't cost a lot of money and will not give us a boost in exports if we drop it. Another myth demolished. I wish I had paid more attention to this evidence gathering in 2015, I would have been better informed and better able to counter some of the more ridiculous claims made during the campaign,
