Why key voters & businesses support fair rules and strong public protections
We are working to promote a future where sensible, properly-enforced protections are the framework for running our economy – where the food we eat and the things we buy are safe, where the natural environment is protected, and where our rights at work are guaranteed.
Do regulations hold the key to winning the next general election?
Our focus groups in key constituencies that will decide the outcome of the next election found no appetite for a watering down of regulation which voters agree creates a fair and functional society.
Deregulation enjoys little support amongst key voters
Key voters support strong rules that protect people and the environment
Key voters strongly support the robust enforcement of regulation
Good regulation protects the things that voters care about – and they will reflect this at the ballot box
UK businesses think regulations provide a framework for sustainable growth
Towards a Rule Based Economy:
a vision for high standards and strong protections
As communities across the UK face deepening levels of economic and social security, they are increasingly looking for the government to step in, to keep them safe, and to clamp down on rulebreakers that are profiting from loopholes in the law.
To do so, any incoming government must start by fixing their attention on an essential, but often overlooked public framework – our regulatory system.
Regulators are a critical public asset. Whether it’s stopping sewage pollution in rivers, preventing the mistreatment of precious nature reserves, ensuring our buildings are safe, curbing online harms, or policing emerging technologies such as AI, we need well-resourced, independent, accountable, and robust regulators who are equipped with skills, money and power.
Recommendation 1:
Close the enforcement gap by investing in and strengthening our regulators
These institutions have suffered deeply over the last decade, with steep budget cuts and falling staff numbers eroding our capacity to uphold safe and fair standards.
Building a strong regulatory system through proper funding is not only practical, it’s popular.
Whether it’s swing voters in the ‘Red Wall’, traditional Conservative voters in the ‘Blue Wall’, Leave voters, or voters in Wales, we find no appetite for a weakening of regulation. In fact, many think leaving the EU has offered us an opportunity to lead the way and set our own high standards.
Strengthening our regulators will also demonstrate that the incoming government takes seriously its duty to protec