If product safety matters, the rules must apply to everyone

By Paul Morrell 2026-06-26T06:00:00

The construction products reform white paper creates a two-tier system – and that’s indefensible, says Paul Morrell

I suspect that, in all government departments, there is a hapless civil servant whose job it is to go through every publication before it goes out of the door to sprinkle the words of the day throughout the text in an attempt to create the impression that all government output represents part of a cohesive strategy.

What else can explain the repetition of the word “growth” in the construction products reform white paper (that was open to consultation until last month) no less than 37 times – but the absence of any ideas that will encourage growth and quite a few that will damage it?

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