The government's red tape watchdog has called for ministers to scrap a law every time they introduce a new one.

In its annual report released on Monday the Better Regulation Task Force made the case for a principle of "one in, one out" to guide new legislation.

The task force was set up by Labour to counter charges of excessive government regulation of industry.

But chairman David Arculus said while progress has been made in cutting down on red tape, a "cultural shift" still needs to take hold in Whitehall departments.

He suggested that ministers must set an example from the top by pledging to replace laws, rather than add to them, when creating new legislation.

Every Act should supersede one of equal or larger size, Arculus argued.

"The government needs to do more on deregulation," he said.

"It needs to continue delivering the items in its Regulatory Reform Action Plan and this is valuable.

"But in order to give a new momentum to deregulation, I am floating the idea of 'one in, one out' so when ministers impose a new piece of law, they also get rid of one – ideally, the same size or even larger."