Chancellor meets FCA as ‘radical plan to cut red tape’ announced

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves met with the head of the FCA and other UK regulators this morning (17 March 2025) as the government announced a “radical action plan to cut red tape and kickstart growth”. 

A government statement explained that the meeting would focus on the Labour government’s pledge to cut the administrative cost of regulation on businesses by a quarter. 

The release of the government’s Plan for Change document, which lays out plans to simplify regulation across the country, followed a statement from prime minister Kier Starmer last week (13 March 2025) in which he criticised a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers” and announced that the government had scrapped NHS England, which was described as the “world’s largest quango”. 

Responding to the direction of travel with regards to regulation, the FCA already announced that it was looking to streamline its regulatory rulebook back in July last year, with its industry consultation on what rules to cut closing in October 2024.

And, in its most recent 2025 manifesto, entitled Partnering to Deliver Value, Biba identified a number of regulatory issues for the UK broking sector, zeroing in on the regulation of commercial businesses, authorisations of new firms and the need for the FCA to streamline its regulatory rulebook. 

Appropriate regulation

Just last week (12 March 2025), the FCA also u-turned on its plans to ‘name and shame’ more companies that it was investigating and dropped proposals to implement regulation around diversity and inclusion for regulated firms. 

Commenting on the government’s regulation action plan, ABI director Hannah Gurga said: “Appropriate regulation of our financial services is essential to a well-functioning system, but it must also be proportionate if it’s going to encourage the innovation, investment and growth our customers and economy need.

“The government’s commitment to making a more effective, streamlined system through its action plan is a welcome intervention. We look forward to working together with government, other trade bodies and the wider financial services sector to progress this and provide predictability, stability and certainty for our industry and its customers.”