Chancellor unveils plan to cut red tape

18 Mar 2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled plans to cut red tape as the government aims to kickstart economic growth.

The government says its Action Plan will save businesses across the country billions of pounds by cutting the number of regulators, streamlining their core legal duties and cracking down on complexity in the regulatory system.

It says regulators have signed up to 60 growth boosting measures, including fast-tracking new medicines to market through a new pilot to provide parallel authorisations from key healthcare regulators, so that patients can access the medicine they need quicker.

Other measures will boost infrastructure building by simplifying guidance to protect bat habitats and streamlining mortgage lending rules, including making it easier to re-mortgage with a new lender and reduce mortgage terms.

Ms Reeves said: 'The world is changing and that's why we must go further and faster to deliver on our Plan for Change to kickstart economic growth.

'We are taking further action to free businesses from the shackles of regulation. By cutting red tape and creating a more effective system, we will boost investment, create jobs and put more money into working people's pockets.'