Bonfire of red tape won’t help if government makes it this difficult to plan

The new HFSS rules go live in stores and online on Saturday. And what a saga it’s been. It took until as recently as April to get the necessary guidance to enact the legislation. In May the ban on multibuys was pushed back by a year.

Now, after frenzied speculation in the past week that the new government (for that’s very much how it feels) would torch the HFSS rules at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, a statutory instrument drawn up by DHSC on Thursday suggests it’s going ahead ‘as planned’ after all.

Having said that, there’s still concern the new government may ultimately change course again, with the imperious hand of No 10 apparently able to give legislation of all forms the thumbs-down at a moment’s notice.

For what it’s worth, rumours that the Environmental Land Management Scheme will be abandoned have so far been denied by Defra. And new environment secretary Ranil Jayawardene has said to trade associations that the English deposit return scheme will go ahead at some point, even as it slips further into chaos.

But you only lead to look at the change of personnel in that department – with George Eustice and the green-fingered Goldsmith brothers gone, with the environmentalist tendencies of Boris Johnson and his influential wife Carrie neutered, and Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy seemingly friendless – to wonder what the future holds, its Food Data Transparency Partnership expected to be an early casualty, while a separate consultation on mandatory food waste reporting by 2025 looks increasingly unlikely to see the day.

Of course, some of the changes, in this so-called bonfire of red tape, may be positive. A mooted increase in seasonal workers and an extension of essential workers criteria would be welcome. Changes to IR35 regulations may help with the driver shortages. The relaxation of planning regulations will help retailers who want to build more stores. And with few businesses realistically able to go ‘off grid’ any time time soon, government support for food and drink businesses with their energy bills is good.

But industry isn’t always anti-red tape. Even if DRS plans are fragmented and chaotic, as with the extended producer responsibility scheme (EPR), this is legislation industry actually wants – if the government sets it up in the right way, that is. Industry also adapts to regulation, and in areas like net zero , likes the level playing field it can create.

Indeed, as damaging as red tape is how monumentally difficult the government’s quixotic behaviour is making it for businesses to plan. It creates an uncertainty that mitigates against the growth the government so single-mindedly wants.

Nor does it help that the government has brought forward plans to unravel the UK from EU regulations via The Retained EU Law (Reform and Revocation) Bill. Of all the impacted departments Defra has by far the largest number (570) to unpick. And that will ironically tie the industry up – at this critical juncture – to ensure the right standards are adopted and we don’t default to no standards at all.

In any case it doesn’t matter how much business is freed up by torching red tape, cutting taxes or subsidising energy bills. If the government’s policies also result in sharp rises in interest rates, compounding inflation, increasing mortgage costs, and damaging pension funds, customers will have neither the confidence nor the money to spend in shops. And that’s an agenda no retailer wants to sign up to.