Cabinet Office minister Graham Stringer has called for government critics to put claims about red tape and regulation into perspective. The minister, who is responsible for regulatory issues, said that compared to our competitors, the UK is relatively lightly regulated.

Stringer said: "There are a number of myths about regulation that I would like to dispel. Firstly, the UK is not over regulated - studies carried out by the OECD, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Confederation of British Industry have shown that the UK has the most lightly regulated product market and one of the least regulated labour markets in the world."

His comments followed claims by the CBI and British Chamber of Commerce that excessive red tape was costing business up to £13 billion. A report by Lord Haskins in April said that government departments rarely considered the impact of legislation on small businesses.

Stringer defended the government's record, saying: "We are not more inclined to regulate than previous administrations. The number of statutory instruments issued each year remains relatively stable - around 3,500. And over 95 per cent have no impact on business."

He directly addressed the claims of business groups on costs. "The problem with all these figures is that they confuse the cost of the policy itself - for example the money paid out as the national minimum wage - with the cost of administering the policy - keeping records and form filling. A decent living wage is not red tape. If you just look at the administration costs they are a fraction of these figures," he said.