Decreasing the amount of bureaucracy that small businesses have to deal with could help encourage their development, an expert has claimed.

William Sargent, executive chair of the Better Regulation Executive, said that cutting red tape was a "way of life" for the UK, rather than a "one-off".

His comments come after the executive publicly declared that it intends to eliminate red tape as much as possible to aid British business development.

"We are in a pretty good situation in the UK … we are in one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business - although that's not a reason for complacency," Mr Sargent remarked.

"It's a pretty vibrant economy and anything we can do to remove barriers and make things easier - that's what this is all about."

The Better Regulation Executive works across government to reduce and remove unnecessary regulation for the public, private and voluntary sectors.

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