Peter Kyle

Well, we should certainly legislate to remove the barriers to growth, because some barriers require legislation. Let me illustrate that with one point. When I was Secretary of State, I visited a fantastic company called Ocean Infinity down in Southampton, which is building and deploying globally—it is a global leader—autonomous marine vehicles. I was taken to see one of its vehicles, which was 36 metres long, being built. These are huge investments, with these vehicles doing extraordinary work autonomously for marine biology and drilling, going to remote marine places on Earth. I was taken one deck below on an autonomous vehicle and shown one room. I was asked, “What do you notice in there?” There was a washing machine and a tumble dryer—in an autonomous boat. Why? Because the law requires any boat more than 34 metres long to have a washing machine and a tumble dryer for its crew. Conservative Members may laugh at my suggestion of a growth Bill, but there are some things that need to change in the law to unlock the stupidity out there in how we regulate certain sectors simply because of the passage of time. I say to all hon. Members who worry deeply about deregulation or the modernisation of the regulatory landscape that there are absurdities out there that are holding businesses back. If we aggregate that one example of a tumble dryer and a washing machine across our economy, we can start to see the need for real positive action.