Cutting the red tape: UK could scrap up to 21,000 ‘senseless’ regulations

In a move that will make red-tape strangled Indians sigh a wistful ''if only...'', the UK government has pledged to ''rip up'' thousands of rules and regulations that it feels are holding back enterprise, particularly small entrepreneurs.

Using a modern "crowd-sourcing" technique to tackle the red tape problem, prime minister David Cameron and business secretary Vince Cable announced on Wednesday that businesses and members of the public will be able to flag unnecessary red tape rules via a new website to be launched today.

The prime minister has written to all cabinet ministers telling them that once the online debate is closed, they have three months to explain why a regulation in their area is still required, or it will be scrapped.

Cameron, who heads a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, has previously promised to tackle bureaucrats he calls the "enemies of enterprise."

Cable, a Liberal Democrat, said regulations brought in over the last decade are costing as much as five per cent of national income.

The coalition has implemented a three-year moratorium on any new regulation from any government department affecting firms with 10 or fewer employees.