Iused to think the most dangerous enemies of free enterprise were bureaucrats, union bosses and socialists. Now I’m not so sure. Perhaps an even greater threat to open markets and invention are those business owners who exploit regulation to prey on entrepreneurs.

How about the many companies that thrive on the back of health and safety, employment, planning, environment, building or transport laws? They work alongside government agencies to suffocate small companies with training, manuals, forms, tests and costs that divert money and management time from serving customers. Each new rule provides these suppliers with more lucrative work – and entrepreneurs have no choice but to buy, or they get fined or shut down.

Businesses that serve the state have only one master, so instead of offering lower prices or greater efficiencies, they become adept at bidding and gaming the tender system. As government crowds out the private sector, taking an ever larger slice of the economy, it perverts the very principles of capitalism. Cronyism and pressure groups dominate, rather than supply based on quality, service and price.