‘One in one out’ was how the coalition presented their attitude to regulation. Now, it seems like they’re on a mission to reduce the number of regulations we have, rather than just stop it from increasing.

Today, Vince Cable has launched the ‘red tape challenge’, which is the mechanism by which they’re going to drive this change. Every few weeks the government will publish all the regulations for a particular sector (they’re starting with retail) and invite the public to give their feedback on them. The relevant ministers will then have three weeks to justify the regulations or they’ll be scrapped.

The Daily Mail (and no doubt its readership) is delighted about this. It’s buried on the inside pages, but James Chapman has unearthed some gems from among the 21,000 regulations we apparently have on the statute books. He says

“Ministers have already identified a string of bizarre rules, including prohibiting the setting of a price when re-selling a bed, restricktions on the sale of liqueur flavoured chocolates and a four-second time limit on the sounding of ice cream van chimes.”

There’s also an element to please the eurosceptics. From the official press release:

“We are pushing the European Commission to start by publishing the cost of planned regulations and setting a target to reduce the overall burden of EU regulation.”

So far, no bad thing. But remember the last time the coalition tried to get all web 2.0 and involve the public in decisions using the internet? Unfortunately, the Spending Challenge website is now offline, but helpfully Liberal Conspiracy and the Other Taxpayers’ Alliance have documented some of the more bizarre (and immigration related) contributions.

For instance, it was suggested that we “wait until at least three fires have broken out in the same area before sending firemen out”. Or that we impose a “windfall tax on people named Steve”. Or that “MPs’ housing allowances be replaced by tents”. All hilarious (I’m not going to reproduce some of the more hate-fuelled, race-related comments) but not at all productive.

So the coalition should beware. Launching a drive to cut red tape will please the Tory grassroots in nice time before they go to the polls in the local and devolved elections, but they should also get ready for the deluge of contributions about ice cream vans.