ABSTRACT
In the latter part of the twentieth century there exists a spectrum of political qua economic opinion running from calls for the complete deregulation of industry through to demands for tight control: an on/off condition, understanding of which is deeply muddied by both sets of calls often arising from the same people. Within a three-year period from late 1983 to mid-1986, the Conservative government published and implemented plans to break up state monopolies; published plans to exempt small firms from health and safety regulations; planned to deregulate shop opening hours; but introduced stringent regulation of financial services markets; stringent control of the agricultural sector through its Environmental Control Act; and much more besides. The raison d’être for each separate piece of legislation varied between dogmatic faith in the efficacy of the free market, through to the necessity to protect consumers from themselves.
