In Britain, as in the US, the new government elected after the financial crisis promised that better consumer protection would be central to a new regulatory regime. In Britain, as in the US, that aim has been steadily watered down.

The Consumer Protection and Markets Authority will now be the Financial Conduct Authority. The change in name is appropriate, since its objective will be “protecting and enhancing confidence in the financial system”. Really?

The mission of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency is to “enhance and safeguard the health of the public by ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe”. If the MHRA is successful in that endeavour, the public is likely to have confidence in the healthcare system. But it is that way round. “Protecting and enhancing confidence in the pharmaceutical industry” is the duty, not of its regulator, but its trade association.