SHOPKEEPERS are calling for a cut in the red tape that is threatening to strangle British business.

John Dean, the newly-appointed chief executive of the British Shops and Stores Association, which is based at Middleton Cheney, near Banbury, said its members had been hit by a tidal wave of legislation.

He said: "The fact is that the plethora of new legislation has been phenomenal - Working Time regulations, the Employee Relations Act, the new Competition Act, the Data Protection Act etc.

"Small business would operate more efficiently if there were fewer and better regulations and we are questioning this Government's commitment to putting deregulation back on the agenda.

"If we are really to believe that they are committed to only introduce regulations as a last resort then what we need now is action not words."

He said the BSSA, which represents more than 10,000 non-food retailers, had persuaded the Government to revise proposals on minimum wage legislation and allow employers to keep only "sufficient records" to prove they were paying employees at the appropriate rate.

And he said the association was lobbying as hard in Brussels as it was in Westminster. He added: "This sea of legislation is undoubtedly placing an onerous burden on our members, whose interests we are representing robustly in this area.

"I am pleased to say there is ample evidence that our voice is being heard.

"At last they have been made to realise that they have placed a disproportionate burden on retailers in complying with an increasing number of regulations."

Story date: Monday 11 October

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