You know what the global race means because you’re living it. And I’m here today to tell you this Government gets it. We get that the world is breathing down our neck. And we get what British business needs.

You need us to deal with our deficit. To cut business taxes so we can compete. To have a proper industrial strategy to get behind the growth engines of the future. To reform education so we turn out the brightest graduates and school leavers. To reform welfare so it pays to work.

These are the key steps to Britain thriving in this global race. But it’s not just about policies, it’s about attitude. You need us to be tough. To be radical. To be fast. I’m going to tell you what that means.

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But we need to do more because government can still be far too slow at getting stuff done.

You know the story. The Minister stands on a platform like this and announces a plan then that plan goes through a three month consultation period there are impact assessments along the way and probably some judicial reviews to clog things up further. By the time the machinery of government has finally wheezed into action, the moment’s probably passed. Government has been like someone endlessly writing a ‘pros and cons’ list as an excuse not to do anything at all.

Consultations, impact assessments, audits, reviews, stakeholder management, securing professional buy-in, complying with EU procurement rules, assessing sector feedback this is not how we became one of the most powerful, prosperous nations on earth.

It’s not how you get things done. As someone once said, if Christopher Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be stuck in the dock.

So I am determined to change this. Here’s how:
• Cutting back on judicial reviews.
• Reducing government consultations.
• Streamlining European legislation.
• Stopping the gold-plating of legislation at home.

¶ 3:39 AM