Wax seals will no longer be used on official government documents – ending centuries old tradition
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden is tearing up red tape which causes delays for staff working in taxpayer funded bodies.
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They include a rule which forces the Intellectual Property Office, overseeing patents, to close some documents with an official wax 'seal of the Patent Office'.
Wax seals were first used in England to seal documents just before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Edward the Confessor was the first English Monarch known to have used them.
Some of the most important documents in British history were sealed with wax, including Charles I's death warrant and the decree ordering Anne Boleyn to be beheaded.
The DVLA - which completes around 45,000 handwritten forms a year - will be able to do away with the need for paper.
The Government is considering legislation to scrap these laws to help staff speed up processes.
A Cabinet Office source said: 'You cannot solve today's problems with outdated laws designed for a different era.
'Modernising the state and removing bureaucracy will empower ministers to do what we promised - deliver the Plan for Change, improve public services and raise living standards.'
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