Red tape suffocates job creation. Here’s how to rip it away

For instance, suspend the minimum wage for 16-21s in small businesses

This year, business will spend £112 billion complying with red tape, the equivalent of Singapore’s GDP. With today’s figures expected to show unemployment over 8 per cent — and one in five 16 to 24-year-olds out of work — choking enterprises that create jobs is not just uncompetitive but unjust too. A stubborn refusal to shear off regulation puts the rights of those in work above the plight of the jobless.

So how can we boost job creation?

• Exempt small business and start-ups from red tape such as extensions to the right to request flexible working and time off for training. Small companies created two thirds of new jobs between 1998 and 2010 but are being deterred by red tape. It is not reasonable