"albatross around the neck of British businesses"

David Cameron has said that his new year's resolution is to "kill off the health and safety culture for good".

Health and safety legislation has become an "albatross around the neck of British businesses", costing them billions of pounds a year and leaving entrepreneurs in fear of speculative claims, he said. Telegraph


Well Dave, on 12 June 1989 during the last Conservative Government, the first European Union health and safety directive was adopted: Framework Directive 89/391/EEC

EU directives on health and safety at work have their legal foundation in Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (ex Article 137 TEC), which gives the EU the authority to adopt directives in this field.

The Court of Justice attributes the legal basis for the interpretation of national law in line with European Union law to the general principle of sincere cooperation (Article 4(3) TEU). Under this article, Member States must take all appropriate measures, whether general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the EU Treaty or resulting from action taken by the European Union institutions.

Article 4(3) TEU states:
‘Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the [European] Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties.The Member States shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the [European] Union.The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the [European] Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the [European] Union's objectives.’