It would have been bad enough if just one major British company had decided to list its shares in New York rather than London in the space of a single week. But two?

First it was the chip-maker Arm, one of the UK’s very few major technology companies. Then came the building materials giant CRH. Shell also said they came very close to shifting their base to the US. The moment has surely arrived for the UK to radically deregulate its listing regime – or else watch the City slowly wither away.

At this rate, within a few years there might only be a couple of retailers and a bus company on the London Stock Exchange

Fewer and fewer companies have been bothering to list their shares in London for many years. From a peak of 3,300 back in 2007, the number has fallen all the way to less than 2,000 now. The costs have been rising, the legal obligations have become ridiculous, and given that the UK has been the worst major market in the world for the last 20 years you don’t even raise very much money anymore. Even so, this week it has dramatically illustrated how far the City has fallen. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have spent months trying to persuade Arm to list its share in London, only for the company to choose New York instead. CRH followed. Shell almost did. At this rate, within a few years there might only be a couple of retailers and a bus company on the London Stock Exchange.

That needs to change, and change fast. There is no mystery about the problem. Successive governments have piled more and more regulatory and governance codes onto listed companies, and made directors responsible for everything from promoting equality to combating climate change, regardless of whether it has anything to do with their business or not. On top of that, Sunak is about to massively increase corporation tax, and will lower the threshold for paying the top rate of tax as well. It can hardly be surprising if companies decide they would be better off somewhere else. The solution? The UK should radically strip back the requirements for listing a company. An audited set of accounts is fine, and beyond that it is up to investors to decide whether they want to buy the shares or not. And it should dramatically reduce the tax burden on business. The departure of ARM and CRH for New York is a warning that time is running out. If the UK does not deregulate soon then there won’t be a stock market left.