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EU red tape is not simply a political soundbite. For British firms, particularly SMEs, it can be the difference between profit and loss, between job creation, and business prospering, or shutting down and innovation being smothered. Ill-thought-out regulations might just be a nuisance or the cost of doing business for larger firms used to spanning continents, but for others it can define their success or failure.

Nor are the costs involved small beer. The Regulatory Policy Committee, an independent government body, recently revealed that new EU rules have imposed £2.3 billion in net costs to businesses since 2013, wiping out the £2.2 billion the UK Government saved cutting domestic red tape during the same period. No wonder independent polling shows that business leaders want a looser, trading relationship with the EU rather than the increasingly regulated political union we are in today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/gene...-meddling.html