WHAT WILL BILL CAMPBELL MAKE OF THIS? PUTTING A FOX IN CHARGE OF THE HEN HOUSE?
The Government has appointed James Smith, the former UK chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, to lead a radical deregulation of the oil and gas industry.
By Rowena Mason 6:00AM BST 07 Sep 2011
Charles Hendry, the energy minister, promised oil executives at Aberdeen’s annual Offshore Europe conference that they would be facing less regulatory oversight in years to come.
Mr Smith, the longtime head of Shell UK, who retired this year, will start gathering opinions in November from companies on how to cut regulation.
“You are not going to see more regulation,” Mr Hendry told delegates. “What we badly need is input from industry on how to reduce the burden of regulation. The approach of ticking boxes you see in other countries, that’s not the UK’s way of doing things.”