[1]BS-o-meter is bleeping as hell!

[1] https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/84065033-987d-4a53-ac9f-172bca865101/dcmrb6c-a2784ec1-ca0b-4323-a886-050d41e89092.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi84NDA2NTAzMy05ODdkLTRhNTMtYWM5Zi0xNzJiY2E4NjUxMDEvZGNtcmI2Yy1hMjc4NGVjMS1jYTBiLTQzMjMtYTg4Ni0wNTBkNDFlODkwOTIuZ2lmIn1dXX0.MHzNZ7Oc4iUfDkOIQ2XBRySFSjWRV-mNoocDBWqZEvI

Lets see what they come up with.

>>It is set to give ministers more power to change retained EU law more quickly than before, without needing votes in Parliament.

Allowing ministers to change law without requiring a vote is never going to end well.

It is bad enough, IMHO, that Statutory Instruments can be abused but to have a legal means for ministers to alter just about anything they please (I doubt the proposed law will list the acts it applies to.. so therefore it actually applies to all acts) on a whim, relegates us from a (notional) democracy to something far less appealing.

Expect more red-meat for voters over the next few weeks. Or is it dead-cats, rather than red meat? I do hope it's not both, that would be disgusting.

Not voters. As per usual this has very little to do with voters as the voters are likely not going to be asked anything for a good few years. Especially not with the rulers so low in the polls.

But I suspect you are right that this is some red meat thrown to the people who do get a say, a few dozen Conservative MPs and oligarchs party donors that are trying to replace Johnson with someone they prefer more.

That's how they got rid of Cameron, May and ultimately Johnson too. A threat of "Move to our position or else..." has been very effective. Johnson's prefers to stay in No 10 at all cost so the country's policy is essentially run by a few dozen hardlines.

You'll have your dead cat in your red meat and you'll enjoy it too young Cupboard.

Honestly, the gov't gives you a bonafide Brexit benefit and you turn your nose up at it!

Banning in the same sentence the phrases "party" and "Downing Street".

That's OK. The Gray report studiously avoids the term. "Gatherings" is the approved term.

No need to be sceptical: front pages of the rags in the local newsagent indicate that Great Britain PLC could benefit by around £1 Billion simply by scrapping onerous safety regulations.

Everybody Wins !

Absolutely, we can see how well scrapping tedious regulations worked at Grenfell tower.

You scrap the rules and then when it goes wrong you blame business for not meeting the standards you failed to define... winner, winner chicken dinner!

Post Brexit this has all been rationalised. Approved products must be UKCA marked. Or CE marked. Or UKNI marked. Much clearer. Less red tape.

Good. Lets get back to good old British red tape. Down with rouban rouge, bürokratie and nastro rosso. I plan to set up a new firm called 'Imperial Tape' immediately to import high quality 繁文缛节 from China, via my brother in law's brass plate in the Cayman Islands.

"... by scrapping onerous safety regulations"

Which has little to do with Brexit. On the whole, EU regs apply to products (ladders, safety glasses, machines, etc.). The safety stuff people complain most about (very occasionally with justification) generally has to do with safety at work, i.e. processes - which are mostly covered by national rather than EU law. On the whole, UK health and safety regs are stricter than those in other countries and possibly better observed and enforced.

I'm sure that's going to be made much easier by giving ministers unfettered powers to continually change the regulations at whim.

It's what we voted for! Will O' The People! Bendy bananas all round! Where's my crown marked pint!

Cards on the table. I voted leave. And I have to admit that I have not read the whole article. I stopped at genetic editing.

However, I did not vote to be able to buy and eat "Frankenstein" food. Yes I know growers have been "editing" for hundreds of years. I don't care because they seem to actually know what they are doing.

But, G.M. food is common in the great U.S.A. /s. As are huge real meat steaks and huge real fat waistlines. But I digress.

For example, have you ever tasted the shite known as "cheese" over there?

And, as we now have an American Prime Minister, I suppose freak foods will soon be sold.

Thank fuck I am old enough to wake up in a morning and be surprised that I have actually woken up...

However, I did not vote to be able to buy and eat "Frankenstein" food.

But you did. You voted to give HMG powers to remove any or all of the protections that the EU provided.

You should really have asked yourself what would be the point of a government seeking that power if they didn't intend to use it, why would they intend to use it other than removing regulations intended to protect the public, whether removing such protections would harm the public and whether you were, in fact, a member of that public.

You're obviously not alone in having failed to ask yourself those questions. If it were only yourselves lumbered with the consequences I wouldn't be concerned. Unfortunately the rest of us are also affected.

Sometimes it's about the lesser evil. So the EU has it's own anti-GMO and other regulations like its anti-Marmite low salt directive. Or we're all meant to eat bugs instead of bacon. I suspect insect protein will soon get added to processed food if it works out cheaper than bulking it out with chicken or turkey protein. Whether it affects humans will get discovered later because it's a 'food additive', not a medicine.

So hopefully the UK can do it's own consumer protection. Then again, it's currently simplifying booze duty by changing wine from having 3 bands to 27. I guess that simplifies applying sin taxes to higher ABV stuff.

"I guess that simplifies applying sin taxes to higher ABV stuff."

Indeed. It's really simple for small distilleries now: They no longer ship to the EU. So no duty to pay. Winning!

Have a quick look at how much Tate & Lyle have been able to dictate the UK's food policy (from import tariffs to blocking big sugar awareness and reduction campaigns). Add to that foreign corporates such as Cargill that will use 55 Tufton Street front stores to funnel pressure and money to UK politicians to influence food policy.

I'm quite concerned that any new UK consumer protection regulation is not going to be about consumers but about producers. It's not as if consumers in the UK have any serious way to influence this as I doubt it's going to be a major issue a general election.

@idiot taxpayer here again

"However, I did not vote to be able to buy and eat "Frankenstein" food."

Yes you did. To be able to and to be forced are very different. Having choice isnt a bad thing.

As long as choice is real. Do not ever think that big, business wouldn't shaft you by taking away that choice. 'Oh no, it's so onerous having to list ingredients, let's remove that horrible burden on producers'

@AC

"As long as choice is real"

Well said

"Do not ever think that big, business wouldn't shaft you by taking away that choice"

Which is where competition as good regulation comes in. But for now our problem is big government taking away choice which needs to be rolled back.

The programme will also develop a tool for businesses, hosted on GOV.UK, that will help firms to identify the regulations that are relevant to them and understand what actions they need to take in response

So, will it be a defence in law in future that the gov.uk website didn't say that that regulation (safety, pollution, privacy, discrimination, labelling, reporting, ...) applied to this business?

Sure, regulations are often complex. And they often involve significant time and cost to comply with. And they may require employing experts. But those are for a reason. We all want regulations to be as simple as possible but no simpler . What will a government site explaining and simplifying them add except excuses for firms which take an unfair market advantage by ignoring the regulations that should apply to them?

And this worked so well with CEST?

Wish I was black, but can't have everything.

Anyhoo as a farmer, IT bod and Scot, everytime that gobshite opens his trap, all I know is someone is going to try and fuck me over at some point soon. Apart from the jam tomorrow and diversionality aspects all I can see is buzzword tech where little regulation exists, mates can see an opportunity and party on!

We all know this is crap from a bullshitter. Christ, he's beginning to make Trump look smart.

Is your farm in Scotland? If so, then the gene-editing changes may not apply to you. "The Minister for Agri-Innovation and Climate Adaptation", Jo Churchill claimed that "scientists across England" would be able to benefit from it. I think agriculture is one of the ministries devolved to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments.