Proposals to tighten corporate governance rules in the UK have been scrapped by the government just hours before they were due to be debated in parliament.
New legislation would have seen companies face stricter rules when reporting results, including the introduction of annual resilience statements.
However, the Department for Business and Trade announced that the draft rules had been withdrawn on Monday, ahead of a planned parliamentary debate on the legislation on Tuesday.
“This would have incurred additional costs for companies by requiring them to include additional layers of corporate information in their annual reports,” the government said.
“Instead, the government will pursue options to reduce the burden of red tape to ensure the UK is one of the best places in the world to do business.”
A call for evidence from the industry since the legislation was tabled in July has seen companies call for reform to “simplify and streamline” existing reporting rules, a statement added.
Scrapping of the legislation marks the latest delay by the government in a long-proposed overhaul of Britain’s corporate governance rules.