Twin clamp-downs on health and safety culture and tax avoidance
HEALTH and safety rules are a “monster” which damage the economy and the government must try to “kill off the culture for good”, Prime Minister David Cameron told an audience of small business owners yesterday.
Cameron also called for large firms to pay their “fair share” of tax, joining the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who continued his campaign against “crony capitalism” and excessive executive pay.
“The excessive health and safety culture has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses,” said the PM, arguing that some rules need to be scrapped, while others need to be implemented more “reasonably.”
A cap will be introduced on the amount lawyers can charge in no-win no-fee offers as part of an effort to rid the UK of the “pointless time-wasting” culture of health and safety, he said.
Meanwhile Clegg called for “accountability on unacceptable excess in executive pay where people are being paid huge amounts of money even though they fail to do well for those companies.”
Both hit out at firms and high-earners who “abuse” the tax system to pay as little as possible. Clegg told the BBC he favoured a “general anti-avoidance rule” to clamp down on the practice.