Blair: We will tackle EU red tape

Mr Blair was giving a speech to the CBI

Tony Blair says Britain will try to improve European regulation when the UK holds the EU presidency next year.

In a speech to the CBI the premier also said he wanted UK civil servants to take a more "flexible" approach to red tape.

He argued the UK had one of the lowest administrative burdens of any industrialised power in the world.

Red tape remained a major concern for business, he said, adding there was a "cultural" problem in Whitehall.

Flexibility?

"For decades, civil servants and politicians have prided themselves in dotting every i and crossing every t when legislating administrative rules," he said.

"We need to change that approach to end gold-plating of European regulations, and rather than assuming everyone is a criminal who needs to be inspected to see if they are breaking the law, adopt a flexible approach to ensure we achieve our targets."

Civil servants should be rewarded for devising ways to meet government aims that avoided new regulation.

"We need to simplify inspection and enforcement, reducing the amount of duplication and overlap," he added.

Mr Blair said half of all major new regulation came from the EU but he insisted European leaders were working towards simplifying laws.