London MEP: "We need light-touch regulation as much as possible"

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 28th Apr 2004

Sarah Ludford at the meeting, admiring a master confectioner's wares!

Sarah Ludford attended a briefing given by the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized enterprises. She expressed strong support for their plea that all Euro-laws should be screened for their impact on small firms, so they do get drowned in red tape.

She said:

"SMEs provide the bulk of jobs in Europe, and we must get a balance between protection of rights of consumers and employees - where the EU has done some good work - and making life impossible for owners and managers. We need light-touch regulation as much as possible."