Years ago, the DfT (in one of its sporadic anti-N-reg drives which some ex Oxford arts graduate there would kick off every so often) asked the CAA to come up with safety data showing N-regs to be less safe. The CAA famously replied that the accident data does not show that at all
Which is completely unsuprising to anybody who periodically reads the AAIB reports.
The EASA initiative is purely political. But it is multi faceted and it isn't just a form of say MJ's pure-envy kind of thing. There is that, but very few people in EASA are pilots (Sivel for example told me he has a PPL and rents the odd PA28) and probably none use GA for anything serious. They pushed this through to have something to beat the FAA around the head with on other matters which I gather concern airline stuff.