A Conservative government would tear up Britain's commitments on data protection and other regulations in a bid to create a more competitive economy.

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.

Leader David Cameron has been under pressure from party faithful who fear he has neglected traditional right-wing hot buttons such as low taxation, deregulation and euroscepticism. ®

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