The United Kingdom’s latest effort to encourage regulators to pare down rules to attract companies and investment as a way to stimulate the economy has received mixed reviews from lawyers. 

That’s because the drive to scrap regulations not only brings into question which rules should be deemed defunct and why, but more importantly, whether the UK’s system of regulators acting as both watchdogs and market cheerleaders is conflicted and flawed. Relaxing regulatory scrutiny to make business run more smoothly could create the opposite effect.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...