Solicitors in Britain and Northern Ireland will have had their work cut out for them over the past decade as statistics show that Tony Blair has passed a record number of laws in his time in power.

A study by Sweet & Maxwell has revealed that seven new laws were passed per day on average, a 22 per cent leap since the 2,196 per year passed in the previous decade from 1987.

An average of 2,685 new laws were passed annually from 1997 to 2007, a figure which does not include the thousands of EU regulations that have come into force.

The study also showed that 98 per cent of the new laws were introduced by statutory instrument, which means that less time was given to parliamentary debate than it took to table the bill.

Employment regulations and the area of criminal law saw the majority of modification.

Cambridge University professor of law, Len Sealy, who authored the report, said: "The trend towards higher volumes of new legislation and the introduction of laws via statutory instruments preceded Blair but his time in office has certainly not seen an end to this rising tide."

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