THERE is a small skirmish inside the government that should be made into a bigger conflict over “slashing red tape.”

Two “independent” reports commissioned by the government — that actually come from complete Tory headbangers — are recommending the government return to a crude, regulation-slashing measure called “one-in-two-out.” 

Departments will be instructed to delete two old regulations for every new one they create.

The Tory and Tory-coalition governments tried to follow this scorched-earth approach to regulations from 2015 on, but ran out of steam on the rule-slashing. 

The Grenfell fire, which saw 72 people burn to death in the centre of London because poor building regulation allowed tower blocks to be clad in flammable materials, slowed the deregulation. 

The Tories losing their majority thanks to a left-wing challenge from Corbyn’s Labour also scared the government and slowed tearing up more rules.

However, the Tories are trying to use Brexit to rejuvenate the anti-rules approach. 

They want to argue that newly independent Britain can only become competitive if businesses don’t have the “burden” of rules about safety, health, workers’ rights or consumer protection.

They want corporations to make more money by us being unsafe and unhealthy, with workers having fewer rights and consumers less protection.

The government is trying to revive the deregulation movement by two “independent” reports which could not be less independent from the government.

The first report was commissioned by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Sunak got John Penrose to write his report on competition policy, published this February, called Power to the People. 

But power to which people? Penrose is a Thatcherite Tory MP, married to Tory baroness and all-round crony Dido Harding. 

So this supposedly independent report is about power for Tory people to make Thatcherite demands.

Boris Johnson commissioned the second report, from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGGR).

Its “independent” report was published this June. But who are this taskforce? How independent are they? 

The taskforce is chaired by Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith. Its membership is two more Tory MPs, Theresa Villiers and George Freeman.

So four Tory MPs wrote two supposedly “independent” reports, both a revival of “one-in-two-out” deregulation, which will now also apply to rules previously governed by the EU.

The Tories are lobbying themselves to forget their Grenfell hang-up and start slashing again.

In June Johnson said the report from Duncan Smith’s taskforce could “really put a TIGRR in the tank of British business.” 

Sunak and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng enthusiastically welcomed the Penrose report.

However, as yet, the talk of post-Brexit regulation-slashing is theoretical. 

The government is still working up its courage. And the need to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the government to impose many more regulations.

In July Stephen Gibson, the chair of the government’s regulatory policy committee, expressed scepticism.  

The regulatory policy committee is a group of top execs from corporations like Thames Water and the City of London who advise the government on regulation — so a heavyweight business lobby inside the Department for Business. 

In a July official press release Gibson noted: “Both the TIGRR report and John Penrose’s recent report, ‘Power to the People,’ make similar recommendations to introduce a ‘one-in, two-out’ regulatory duty on all government departments.”

But Gibson said his committee felt “the detail of such a system needs careful consideration” because it “may conflict with other government objectives such as net zero, levelling-up and new free trade agreements” and argued: “Any new mechanism would need to be flexible enough to allow for multiple objectives.”

That may sound waffly compared to the head-banging certainty of Duncan Smith and fellow red-tape-slashers. 

But Gibson’s group represents serious sections of big business. The fact they feel a bit wary of proposed “one-in two-out” rules should give us confidence that there is room for much more serious opposition.