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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I would be reluctant to give an undertaking in the terms that the noble Lord describes. His point is fair: that where there is no regulatory burden, there must be very careful consideration of the imposition of new burdens on that person, that business, that enterprise, that entity. Of course that is the case. Our whole key regulatory drive, not just in the Bill but outside it, is directed to ensure that that is the case. But the noble Lord and the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, accepted in an earlier debate the point that there may well be occasions where burdens shift and that that is right because it is proportionate, correct and appropriate in the circumstances. I therefore cannot give an assurance in the absolute terms which the noble Lord seeks. I would be foolish as a Minister to give that absolute assurance. He needs to think very carefully about the nature of that assurance and what it might imply for future regulatory regimes. They cannot work in that way; we need that flexibility. I certainly understand his point; it is one on which we reflect at all times, and will certainly reflect on it having heard what he has had to say this afternoon.