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.
Key voters in marginal constituencies support strong regulation
Our focus groups in key marginal constituencies 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 protect. Voters across the country deeply resent companies that profit from cutting corners and expect the government to police those that break the rules.
Recommendation 2:
Clamp down on those who profit from harm
A strong regulatory framework will not only protect the public from harmful practices, it will also level the playing field in the private sector by ensuring businesses work to a set of common standards.
This is why the private sector supports practical regulations. They know that well-designed regulations bring real benefits to the UK economy by shielding good businesses from competitors who cut corners and let the country down.
Recommendation 3:
Growing the economy by raising standards and leading the way
Britain has always been a country of high standards. We’ve raised these standards over centuries and this is what our trading partners have come to expect from us – a country that aims high and leads the way.
We want to be a country that practises what it preaches in its own backyard, showing the world how to respect workers and protect the environment whilst providing businesses with the sound and predictable rules that enable sustainable investment.
The next government should assert its commitment to this kind of bold and inspiring vision for the UK, reaffirming our international standing as the gold standard for probity, fair play and the rule of law. In doing so the government can ensure we are match fit for a future that holds great uncertainty and huge opportunity.
Our supporters
“Polling and focus groups consistently show that the environment is a top 3 issue amongst the UK electorate, that the retention and better implementation of these protections is supported by the majority of both businesses and the general public, and that environmental protections and their enforcement is an area of particular concern within many of the constituencies that look set to be most hotly contested in the forthcoming General Election”.
“Survey after survey shows that voters want to see workers’ rights protected and enhanced. The cost of living crisis has sharpened the perception that workers are not getting a fair deal – and the next government will be expected to address this as a priority.”
“The public know that nature is under threat and stronger protections are needed to defend it. Widespread public outrage at the appalling state of the UK’s rivers and seas has shown that people understand that poor and unenforced environmental regulations can have catastrophic consequences. When done correctly, regulations are crucial to safeguarding threatened species and protecting the natural spaces that people and communities cherish.”
“Over the last hundred years WI members have campaigned for many of the vital protections that form the cornerstone of our society and we believe that regulation continues to play a vital role in ensuring our society is safe and fair, and our environment and nature can thrive.”
“Worker protections are everyone’s business. They safeguard the wellbeing of our society, future generations, and public health. For our members, they make sure people are treated fairly, safely and with respect. Who would not want that at work?”
“The UK is rightly seen as a world leader on its health and safety regulatory regime. In the decades since the landmark Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) was passed, we have led the way in bringing down our rates of deaths, accidents, and injuries at work.
“As a country we must resist calls to water down, reverse or cut these vital protections to our health, safety and wellbeing, which also make us a more attractive place to invest and do business, and enable Britain to set an example for other countries around the world to follow.”