Rachel Reeves will meet UK regulators on Monday after calling for more action to restrict red tape and spur economic growth.
The chancellor argued that government plans would reduce costly delays and disputes, saving businesses billions, and said regulators must accept a more streamlined decision-making process.
Reeves is expected to use the meeting to announce more detail on how the government will cut the cost of regulation by a quarter and set out plans to slim down or abolish regulators themselves.
High on the chancellor’s target list are the costly hold-ups to major infrastructure projects when environmental concerns are raised.
Citing the long battle over a covering for HS2 through ancient woodland, dubbed the bat tunnel, Reeves said wrangling between environmental regulators, councils and government departments needed to stop or time and cost overruns would persist.
One proposal will be to make it easier for private sector contractors to obtain environmental permits, with just one agency in charge of the system, and permits being scrapped for low-risk or temporary projects.
The meeting follows the announcement last week that NHS England – dubbed the world’s largest quango – would be scrapped as part of an effort to overhaul the health service.
Shrinking economy offers unhelpful backdrop for Rachel Reeves’s growth push
Reeves said: “Today 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.”
The chancellor will meet representatives from eight regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority, Prudential Regulation Authority, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the medicines regulator and the Information Commissioners’ Office.
Last week Keir Starmer said the Payments Systems Regulator would be folded into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to simplify the regulatory system. Reeves is expected to commit to scrapping more regulators over the course of the parliament.
On Monday, officials said she will announce the abolition of a third quango – the Regulator for Community Interest Companies – which will be folded into Companies House.
It is understood ministers will be instructed to report back to the chancellor by the summer with further suggestions for quangos that could be culled.
Since taking office, Reeves has made clear government agencies must support her efforts to expand investment and grow the economy. She is expected to use Monday’s meeting to unveil 60 measures that regulators have agreed to undertake to boost economic growth.
These include fast-tracking new medicines, reviewing the £100 limit on contactless payments, simplifying mortgage rules and holding two major drone-flying trials to pave the way for drone delivery services.
At the end of last year, the prime minister said regulators must come up with “concrete proposals” to boost growth as the government attempts to turn around Britain’s struggling economy.
Although the UK avoided a recession in the second half of 2024, the economy has shown few signs of recovery with business and consumer confidence remaining low and firms shedding workers. Figures released last week showed a 0.1% fall in GDP in January.
Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry, said the UK’s “Gordian knot of regulations” hindered investment with compliance costs that were too high “leaving us trailing the international competition”.
She said: “Today’s announcement signals a shift towards a more proportionate, outcomes-based approach that should deliver more sustainable growth and investment.”
But the Conservative shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, said Reeves “and her job-destroying, tax-hiking budget” were “the biggest barrier to growth” in the UK.
He added: “For as long as businesses remain under the strain of Labour’s taxes and trade union red tape, they will be unable to focus on the priority of growth.”
