The Register reports today, in part:

A wide-ranging policy review set to be published this Friday will make the recommendations, which were backed today by shadow chancellor George Osborne in an interview with the Financial Times.

The Tories reckon they can slash £14bn in red tape. Also for the chop would be the UK’s adherence to the Working Time Directive that imposes a 48-hour limit on the working week. Osborne vowed to “pick a fight” with Brussels over the laws.

The review will also recommend that five specialist regulators, including Ofcom, be subsumed into the competition watchdog. Redundancy regulations should be relaxed, say the authors, to allow employers to make cuts more easily.

It sounds like the Tories might seek to preserve much of the functionality of Ofcom, but just make it part of a larger organisation that has a competition focus. Finding the right ‘level’ of regulation for a sector is obviously important: Do regulated firms and the public fare better under consolidated regulatory structures (Ofcom being one example), or do they fare better when regulatory structures are smaller and very targeted? People often ask me to explain Ofcom’s success in this regard. When I think about it, I would have to say much of what Ofcom is praised for really has nothing to do with its expanded remit and its consolidated position. It’s actually the ‘better regulation’ agenda combined with excellent resources that help Ofcom succeed.

Whether it’s one super-regulator or ten smaller ones — it does not matter in my opinion. I think the approach and resources are more important…

For the public and regulated firms, however, certainty and continuity are sometimes equally important as the quality of regulation. The U.S. example of the Federal Communications Commission is relevant here — it has been a constant presence since 1934. The Tories might unknowingly impede good progress Ofcom has been making: Where do people take their complaint about telecoms services? Where do regulated firms turn to for information on compliance? At OfcomWatch we certainly do not hesitate to criticise Ofcom where we think the regulator falls short, but the degree to which Ofcom is rapidly establishing itself as an accessible and authoritative regulator is remarkable.