Macron makes huge Brexit swipe at ESA summit

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Sir Ian Duncan Smith has unleashed his anger at Boris Johnson and accused the Prime Minister of failing to deliver on key Brexit promises. The former Tory leader accused Mr Johnson of doing “sweet FA” on his promise of slashing EU red tape. De-regulation of British businesses was a major promise that was made by the Brexit campaigners, and then by the Conservative government during their 2019 election bid.

In 2016, Mr Johnson slammed “the torrent of EU legislation, coming at a rate of 2,500 a year and imposing costs of £600million per week on UK businesses”.

The Tories vowed to “ensure that regulation is sensible and proportionate and that we always consider the needs of small businesses when devising new rules, using our new freedom after Brexit to ensure that British rules work for British companies”.

However, more than two years on from that election, Sir Ian, who was appointed by Mr Johnson to chair the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform, slammed the Prime Minister for failing to deliver.

The Taskforce was designed to draw up a plan to help the Government cut and trim regulations that could be deemed less useful.

Among the suggestions made by think tanks and the Taskforce was that the Government should scale back its constraints in the Pharmaceutical sector so that Britain could become a global hub for life sciences.

Other recommendations included easing regulations on gene editing, which could ensure more climate-friendly and nutritious food could be grown, along with boosting innovation, by redesigning the Novel Foods Act to help start-ups, such as those for meatless products.

Slamming Mr Johnson, Sir Ian said: “The Government has done absolutely sweet FA since we delivered the report to them [in June 2021].

“They should have been getting on with it, and they still have not done a single element of deregulation since I produced the report.”

The former Conservative leader argued that former Brexit Minister David Frost was given too little authority to make meaningful changes while he was in Government.

According to the Telegraph, Mr Johnson watered down Lord Frost’s Brexit plan as it was “not consistent” with the UK’s plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions.

In a document published by the Government labelled “The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU”, they distanced themselves from Lord Frost’s strategy of “one in, two out rule” with EU regulations.

They argued that these rules were “consistent with delivering world-class regulation to support the economy in adapting to a new wave of technological revolution or to achieving net zero”.

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David Jones, a former Brexit minister, said: “There was quite a lot of concern hurled at the Prime Minister over the push to net zero and the impact that these green policies are having upon standards of living.

“We do want to deregulate – we are a deregulatory party and we should always be that.”

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