IEA Director General Mark Littlewood has written for The Times arguing that the government should begin to take advantage of the regulatory freedoms promised by Brexit to improve the economic situation.

Lamenting the short-termism of successive governments, Mark wrote:

“Each government seems destined to inherit a worse situation that its predecessor. Deteriorating public finances, higher taxes and sluggish or even negative economic growth have become the new normal. Permanent short-term crisis management is now the standard mode of governing.”

Mark also wrote:

“Rather than going through the process of working through EU regulations line-by-line, the impression given is that we will shrug our shoulders and tacitly admit such a task isn’t worth the candle. Devout Remainers who believe the European Union had perfected a state of regulatory nirvana might be content with such an outcome, but it seems a curious approach to be taken by those who railed against costly and inefficient intervention from Brussels. They now seem to be implying that none of this interference was costly or inefficient enough to make it worth changing.”

Mark concluded his article by highlighting areas of regulation that could be overhauled, such as labour market rules and GDPR.

The full piece can be read here.