BREXIT Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has published the “most interesting” Brexit opportunity ideas sent to him by the public.
Back in February, Rees-Mogg appealed to readers of the Express to write into his office with suggestions for how the UK might benefit from Brexit and has now received more 2000 ideas from the public.
Out of the thousands of replies, the second-best opportunity named by the department was more powerful vacuum cleaners - which was pipped to the top spot by fracking.
Other edifying ideas included the relaxation of rules for van drivers and the simplification of holiday pay calculations.
Among the more than 2000 suggestions, the Express has published a list of nine “top” ideas.
They are:
- Encourage fracking, shortcut rules on planning consultation via emergency act.
- Abolish the EU regulations that restrict vacuum cleaner power to 1400 watts.
- Remove precautionary principle restrictions (for instance) on early use of experimental treatments for seriously ill patients and GM crops.
- Abolish rules around the size of vans that need an operator's licence.
- Abolish EU limits on electrical power levels of electrically assisted pedal cycles.
- Allow certain medical professionals, such as pharmacists and paramedics, to qualify in three years.
- Remove requirements for agency workers to have all the attributes of a permanent employee.
- Simplify the calculation of holiday pay (eg 12.07 percent of pay) to make it easier for businesses to operate.
- Reduce requirements for businesses to conduct fixed wire testing and portable application testing.
It is unclear which of these ideas will actually make it to the halls of Westminster for consideration but Rees-Mogg is reportedly “delighted” with the contributions.
When explaining his original decision to solicit the public for their ideas, he said: “Government is not the centre of all knowledge and wisdom. Actually, there is a much greater wisdom with the British people as a whole.
“That is why I am so keen for the British people to tell me what it is in their daily life that the Government does that makes their life harder. And if I can, I will push to get rid of that.”
Despite the large response, Rees-Mogg is still open to ideas from the public to increase Government efficiency - which may complement his support to reduce the number of civil service staff by 90,000 people.
