Unleashing the British Entrepreneur – why small businesses matter

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Sir Nicholas Mountstuart
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Unleashing the British Entrepreneur – why small businesses matter

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The Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon. Sir Nicholas Mountstuart QC MP, addressing the Federation of Small Businesses where he will deliver a speech on ‘Unleashing the British Entrepreneur – why small businesses matter’.

May I begin by warmly thanking you for the invitation to address this today. I know that the FSB prides itself on being forensically robust in its approach to anyone who comes up on this stage, and I am reliably informed that even that self-appointed master of the poker face himself, Sir Jack Anderson; finds this to be a tough crowd with no time for the politico platitude. So, let me advise you that I’ll treat this speech in the same way that all of you here run your businesses - efficiently, honestly and directly.

And if any further proof of my efficiency credentials is needed, just take one look at what I’ve done in my first action as Conservative Leader; installed a new slimmed down Shadow Cabinet. I can quite confidently say that just as small businesses know they must innovate to get on, so too will I expect my team to take the same approach in our dealings with this Government.

The natural party of industry and commerce? Of small businesses and entrepreneurs? Ten years ago, I think that’d have gone without saying, and I am under no illusions with respect to the scale of the task facing me as Leader of the Opposition. Labour today, are not the hard-left bogeymen of the past decades anymore, and it would be entirely facile of me to point to the threat of 98% taxation and mass nationalisation from a socialist Government as the primary threat to the growth of small businesses in the 21st century.

Now, whilst New Labour has not managed to uproot themselves from the post-Thatcherite consensus, they have -since entering Government- gone straight back to their tendency of economic control freakery, it is this desire to micromanage which is most damaging to small businesses. Where Labour thinks everything can be solved by a Whitehall diktat, the Conservatives know better, it is only by letting entrepreneurship off the leash; unchoking the burden of tax, and discarding regulatory overload that we will get small businesses to where they should be.

It is a simple statement of fact to say that small business is the lifeblood of the British economy, they are the engine of private sector growth, and the Conservative Party under my leadership will stand foursquare behind the hardworking men and women who get up every morning and go out to work for themselves, their families and in doing so contribute to the national effort too. It is that hard work, and the entrepreneurial spirit of this country which will provide the impetus for sustainable growth up and down the country.

That growth is achievable, but right now understandably seems a long way off; since Labour entered Government in 1997, our economy has grown at a slower rate than that of the United States of America or the senior European countries who we compete with. And most startlingly of all, productivity growth has slowed right down to just 1.4 per cent a year over the last four years. Britain is becoming a globalised economy, and the entrepreneurs who take the risks which will propel us in to becoming properly competitive again on the world stage are right here in this room.

Conservatives realise this, that’s why in our Shadow Budget we announced that we’d slash tax on businesses – abolishing the starter rate of corporation tax and beginning the process of cutting the basic rate by a penny in our first year. The Institute of Chartered Accountants, for example, has said that the tax system has spun out of democratic control because of complexity. We will cut business rates for small firms, and, in particular for the shops, pubs, garages and post offices that are so important to the livelihood of the rural economy - we’d cut capital gains in half, after removing Labour’s complicated jargon – something that the other parties seem to think will only reward those at the top, nothing more than a myth peddled by the usual suspects on the left.. We will cut fuel duty by 3p; where Labour and the Liberals think that owning a car is an added extra, a luxury – we Conservatives know that transport is crucial to the ability of small business to operate, particularly in remote and rural areas of the country.

Sir Jack Anderson and Gordon Brown’s speciality has been to wrap up small business in regulation, that may be the biggest single issue aside from the tax burden which faces members of the FSB. That’s why we will take an axe to Labour's new tax on the self employed - IR35. This unfair tax is driving away some of our most creative people - IT specialists who are in great demand from our competitors, again these are the people who we will need to encourage and retain to enter the global race. Similarly, the Climate Change Levy and the Aggregate Tax are two insidious examples of New Labour’s stealth taxation – monikered as environment protecting measures, the reality is that they aren’t effective, and only serve as job killing devices.

Conservatives know that small businesses really do operate at both sides of the margin. It is at the margin that the extra tax or new regulation can determine whether a company takes on an extra worker or lays one off and ultimately, whether that company succeeds or fails. In everything we do as an Opposition and in presenting ourselves as the next Government - this will be at the forefront of our minds.

Thank you.
Rt Hon. Sir Nicholas Mountstuart Bt QC MP
Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (2001-Present)

Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border (1997-Present)
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Re: Unleashing the British Entrepreneur – why small businesses matter

Post by Marty »

First of all, I'd be remiss not to mention that while I know Kurz was in uni with one of my research master classmates, I didn't know he was also in a boyband.

That aside, the speech. I'll be honest: maybe it's because the Tories have had a lot going on recently, but I thought this speech lacked crunch. A lot of it was flattering the audience (which in moderation is good) and attacking the Tories, but ironically, you didn't really cut to business that quickly at all. What followed in the final two paragraphs was good policy, and the FSB likes it, but it's also something they probably already know. What audiences like this want to see is some detailed proposals, and how they help them. You talk about regulation on small business: by all means, tell them how you're going to cut that!

Maybe it's because it's early days for your leadership, but I know you can do better than this in terms of substance.

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