diff --git a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
index e90281fb5f..a552686328 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
@@ -584,9 +584,7 @@ (define-public python2-biom-format
                (substitute* "setup.py"
                  (("install_requires.append\\(\"pyqi\"\\)") "pass"))
                #t)))
-         ,@(package-arguments base)))
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
+         ,@(package-arguments base))))))
 
 (define-public bioperl-minimal
   (let* ((inputs `(("perl-module-build" ,perl-module-build)
diff --git a/gnu/packages/python.scm b/gnu/packages/python.scm
index 2f999b1b0f..66c01d1dd9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/python.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/python.scm
@@ -1782,9 +1782,6 @@ (define-public python2-pytest-mock
   (let ((base (package-with-python2
                 (strip-python2-variant python-pytest-mock))))
     (package (inherit base)
-      (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ,@(package-native-inputs base)))
       (inputs
        `(("python2-mock" ,python2-mock)
          ,@(package-inputs base))))))
@@ -2562,8 +2559,7 @@ (define-public python2-oauthlib
   (let ((base (package-with-python2 (strip-python2-variant python-oauthlib))))
     (package
       (inherit base)
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
                        ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
 
 (define-public python-itsdangerous
@@ -5305,9 +5301,7 @@ (define-public python2-seaborn
     (package
       (inherit base)
       (propagated-inputs `(("python2-pytz" ,python2-pytz)
-                           ,@(package-propagated-inputs base)))
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
+                           ,@(package-propagated-inputs base))))))
 
 (define-public python-sympy
   (package
@@ -5478,10 +5472,7 @@ (define-public python2-tornado
        `(("python2-backport-ssl-match-hostname"
           ,python2-backport-ssl-match-hostname)
          ("python2-singledispatch" ,python2-singledispatch)
-          ,@(package-inputs tornado)))
-      (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ,@(package-native-inputs tornado))))))
+          ,@(package-inputs tornado))))))
 
 ;; the python- version can be removed with python-3.5
 (define-public python-backports-abc
@@ -5870,10 +5861,7 @@ (define-public python2-terminado
       (propagated-inputs
        `(("python2-backport-ssl-match-hostname"
           ,python2-backport-ssl-match-hostname)
-          ,@(package-propagated-inputs terminado)))
-      (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ,@(package-native-inputs terminado))))))
+          ,@(package-propagated-inputs terminado))))))
 
 (define-public python-fonttools
   (package
@@ -8167,8 +8155,7 @@ (define-public python2-rauth
   (let ((base (package-with-python2 (strip-python2-variant python-rauth))))
     (package
       (inherit base)
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
                        ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
 
 (define-public python2-functools32
@@ -8918,8 +8905,7 @@ (define-public python2-anyjson
       (arguments `(;; Unlike the python 3 variant, we do run tests.  See above!
                    #:tests? #t
                    ,@(package-arguments anyjson)))
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-nose" ,python2-nose))))))
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-nose" ,python2-nose))))))
 
 (define-public python-amqp
   (package
@@ -8955,9 +8941,7 @@ (define-public python2-amqp
                    ;; unmaintained.  Weirdly, does not do this on the python 3
                    ;; version?
                    #:tests? #f
-                   ,@(package-arguments amqp)))
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ,@(package-native-inputs amqp))))))
+                   ,@(package-arguments amqp))))))
 
 (define-public python-kombu
   (package
@@ -8994,8 +8978,7 @@ (define-public python2-kombu
                 (strip-python2-variant python-kombu))))
     (package
       (inherit kombu)
-      (inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                ("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
+      (inputs `(("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
                 ,@(package-inputs kombu))))))
 
 (define-public python-billiard
@@ -9028,8 +9011,7 @@ (define-public python2-billiard
                    (strip-python2-variant python-billiard))))
     (package
       (inherit billiard)
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
                        ("python2-mock" ,python2-mock)
                        ,@(package-native-inputs billiard))))))
 
@@ -9078,8 +9060,7 @@ (define-public python2-celery
                  (strip-python2-variant python-celery))))
     (package
       (inherit celery)
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-unittest2" ,python2-unittest2)
                        ("python2-mock" ,python2-mock)
                        ,@(package-native-inputs celery))))))
 
@@ -9502,8 +9483,7 @@ (define-public python2-jellyfish
   (let ((jellyfish (package-with-python2
                      (strip-python2-variant python-jellyfish))))
     (package (inherit jellyfish)
-      (native-inputs `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                       ("python2-unicodecsv" ,python2-unicodecsv)
+      (native-inputs `(("python2-unicodecsv" ,python2-unicodecsv)
                        ,@(package-native-inputs jellyfish))))))
 
 (define-public python2-unicodecsv
@@ -10896,9 +10876,6 @@ (define-public python-binaryornot
 (define-public python2-binaryornot
   (let ((base (package-with-python2 (strip-python2-variant python-binaryornot))))
     (package (inherit base)
-      (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ,@(package-native-inputs base)))
       (inputs
        `(("python2-enum34" ,python2-enum34)
          ,@(package-inputs base))))))
@@ -11407,8 +11384,7 @@ (define-public python2-natsort
   (let ((base (package-with-python2 (strip-python2-variant python-natsort))))
     (package (inherit base)
              (native-inputs
-              `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-                ("python2-pathlib" ,python2-pathlib)
+              `(("python2-pathlib" ,python2-pathlib)
                 ("python2-mock" ,python2-mock)
                 ("python2-enum34" ,python2-enum34)
                 ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
@@ -11567,8 +11543,7 @@ (define-public python2-graphene
                 (strip-python2-variant python-graphene))))
     (package (inherit base)
       (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ("python2-sqlalchemy" ,python2-sqlalchemy)
+       `(("python2-sqlalchemy" ,python2-sqlalchemy)
          ,@(package-native-inputs base))))))
 
 (define-public python-nautilus
diff --git a/gnu/packages/statistics.scm b/gnu/packages/statistics.scm
index 700a8957cc..a19d6000d4 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/statistics.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/statistics.scm
@@ -1487,10 +1487,7 @@ (define-public python2-statsmodels
          ("python2-scipy" ,python2-scipy)
          ("python2-pandas" ,python2-pandas)
          ("python2-patsy" ,python2-patsy)
-         ("python2-matplotlib" ,python2-matplotlib)))
-      (native-inputs
-       `(("python2-setuptools" ,python2-setuptools)
-         ,@(package-native-inputs stats))))))
+         ("python2-matplotlib" ,python2-matplotlib))))))
 
 (define-public r-coda
   (package