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For one thing, many of the regulations being introduced now result from legislation enacted before May, 1997. Even so, the point is reasonably made.Outlook independent.co.uk. PEARSON, THE Financial Times to Penguin books media group, appears to be rolling its tanks on to the new media lawn in a quite significant way. For every blow the Government has struck to ease the burden on regulations, in respect of the licensing laws for instance, it has added new and more onerous ones in areas affecting all businesses like working hours, minimum wages, trade union representation and data protection.The Tories’ calculation that red tape has added pounds 5.4bn to business costs since New Labour came to office is about as spurious as the Government’s claim about the inroads it is making into the forest of regulation.

While the rhetoric has been all about lightening the regulatory load, the reality has been an avalanche of fresh legislation from Brussels and Whitehall. They in turn will have to report in triplicate to Mo Mowlem at the Cabinet Office if they are not doing their bit to “banish the bumf” …
Mr Blair is right to see his government’s liking for regulation as a potential Achilles’ heel But it is not clear he can do much about it. The very act of launching an assault on red tape tends to generate more of the stuff. Every Whitehall department will have to appoint a minister with responsibility for regulatory reform.

Like countless such initiatives before it, this pledge looks destined to go up in smoke. NEW LABOUR, new regulations. Tony Blair must be running short of ideas if he has had to resort to announcing a bonfire of red tape at this stage in his term of office. Pledges to tackle the burden of useless regulations are usually reserved for the dying days of a Parliament, when ministers are desperate to be seen to be doing something. Operating 31 services a day from Waterloo, Eurostar carries 60 per cent of all rail and air traffic on the London-Paris route and 50 per cent of the lucrative business passenger market..

However, the state-owned French railway SNCF, which owns a 35 per cent stake in Eurostar, might prefer a tie-up with Air France.Eurostar’s revenues reached pounds 298m in the first nine months of the year – a 6 per cent improvement on the same period a year ago and Mr Bye said he expected a similar rate of growth next year. One option would be a link-up with Oneworld, the alliance led by British Airways, which also has a 10 per cent stake in Eurostar UK. He said Eurostar had “started a debate” with both Railtrack and Eurotunnel about the level of access charges – which account for about half its operating costs.Mr Bye also said Eurostar had held informal discussions about the possibility of tieing up with one of the world airline groupings that have been formed. This has reduced yields per passenger and resulted in it offering cheap fares such as the current pounds 45 day-return and a special pounds 29 “nightclubber” deal which involves travelling out in the evening and returning before 10.00am the next day.Mr Bye said that as competition intensified it would become “extremely difficult” for Eurostar to achieve break-even within five years. When the company’s track charges were set in the early 1990s it was estimated that Eurostar would be carrying 12 million to 13 million people a year on its London-Paris and London-Brussels services by now.