Via The Conservative Party | News | Speeches | David Cameron: Reducing the burden and impact of health and safety, David Cameron further sets out his vision to turn Britain around:
Three weeks ago at the Young Lecture I said that the ultimate ambition of a future Conservative Government was to create the big society…
…a thick, intricate web of mutual obligation in which we fulfil our responsibilities to ourselves and each other.
I argued that achieving this vision requires government to empower individuals, families and communities to take control of their lives and exercise responsibility.
In almost every area, the Conservative Party aims to remove the obstacles that prevent people from making their own decisions.
…
…there is a growing sense that too many areas of our life are governed by petty rules, regulations and tick box bureaucracy that flies in the face of common sense, undermines discretion and prevents us from getting on with our lives.
David went on to explain how we would deal with “the great knot of rules, regulations, expectations and fears that I would call the over-the-top health and safety culture” which “is a straitjacket on personal initiative and responsibility”.
As someone who has managed aerospace engineering and who exercises his freedom responsibly by jumping out of aeroplanes, this is very much to my liking: personal responsibility and initiative are essential to climbing out of the hole we are in.
Further reading
- Read the speech here.
- Bureaucracy, a review of Mises’ eponymous book (PDF)
