Brown wants red tape 'hit list'

Chancellor Gordon Brown threw down the gauntlet to his business critics today by challenging them to come up with examples of needless red tape. Mr Brown used a meeting with company chiefs in Whitehall to demand they

match their rhetoric with concrete examples of rules that harm performance.

The Chancellor pledged to slash unnecessary regulationspromising two new Bills to streamline inspection and pull down redundant hurdles.

But he also wanted to call the bluff of some of his fiercest critics by challenging them to come up with their own "hit list".

One of the new Bills will cut 29 state regulators to seven and the other will scrap individual rules deemed to harm business.

Mr Brown today said he wanted a "risk-based" approach to the issue, with rogue traders facing inspection while respectable firms are freed from interference.

Downing Street is expected soon to announce the appointment of a senior business figure to head a new Better Regulation Executive.