” Vince`s coalition colleague, Mark Hoban, does not appear to be so concerned about the perils of excessive regulation.  In fact, addressing Parliament on 12 December 2011, he blamed the light touch approach of the previous government and spoke of the `gross failures’ of the regulatory regime.”

It is interesting that, only a few short years later, light touch regulation is being seen as one of the primary reasons for our current economic woes.  Indeed, the long-awaited report into the failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland was published in December 2011 and, principal among its causes, were `light touch regulation and a catalogue of financial errors’ (Daily Mail).  Populist statements, either in government or opposition often come back to haunt politicians.