A senior Tory MP has accused Rishi Sunak of only getting rid of "trivial" and "obsolete" EU-era laws after the Government watered-down its post-Brexit "bonfire" of regulations. 

Sir William Cash, a leading Conservative Brexiteer and the chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, has written a letter to the Prime Minister criticising the decision to scale back the plans to scrap the laws. 

The Government had pledged to complete the axing of 4,000 regulations by the end of the year but under a new approach just 600 laws will now be revoked, sparking a Brexiteer backlash. 

Sir William told Mr Sunak that "almost without exception" the 600 laws which are now being targeted for removal relate to "matters that are trivial, obsolete and are not legally and/or politically important". 

He said that therefore the Government’s new plans "cannot be construed as lightening the regulatory burden for businesses or spurring economic growth". 

Sir William’s letter sets out examples of the "trivial" laws which he said are being revoked, including one which related to "the setting of fishing opportunities for anchovy in the Bay of Biscay for the 2011/2012 fishing season". 

The Government has insisted its new approach to scrapping EU-era laws was "pragmatic and balanced". 

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