A TEAM set up to tackle growing levels of bureaucracy has thrown down the gauntlet to Chancellor Gordon Brown to show he is on the side of business.

The Red Tape Team, funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and operated through Yorkshire and Humber Chambers of Commerce, has called for the "cumulative burden of new regulation" to be addressed.

It has estimated that in the past six years, the collective cost of regulation for UK businesses has risen to £20.6bn, plus £10.2bn for implementing the national minimum wage.

Martin Hathaway, chief executive of Yorkshire and Humber Chambers of Commerce, said: "This burden falls disproportionately on small businesses, the backbone of the British economy and, in many cases, the big employers and wealth generators of tomorrow.

"One of the Government's first duties in 2004 must be to improve understanding of how complying with new regulations impacts on business competitiveness at home and overseas.

"The cumulative impact of business burdens is not currently assessed, nor is there any policy objective to limit or reduce the overall burden on business, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Britain has long been a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs, but this is now in increasing danger of strangulation by red tape."

The Red Tape Team is the only initiative of its kind in the UK and operates region-wide to help businesses tackle time-consuming red tape which are affecting their commercial progress.