According to the Conservative Party website the Conservative Party will try to achieve the following if they gain power at the 2010 general election:
Our goal is simple: to make Britain the easiest and best place in the world to set up and grow a business.
Under Labour, business has become increasingly burdened by corporate taxes, red tape and the lack of enterprise leadership in government. As a result, we are falling down the global scale of economic competitiveness.
A Conservative Government would help businesses struggling in this recession by:
* Establishing a temporary National Loans Guarantee Scheme to get credit flowing again and help protect jobs
* Allowing struggling firms to defer their VAT bills for up to six months
* Cutting small firms’ payroll taxes
* Helping companies with the costs of hiring new staff by giving tax breaks for new jobs
And we would ensure Britain is one of the most competitive economies in which to do business in the future by:
* Cutting the main rate of corporation tax
* Cancelling Labour’s planned increase in the small companies tax rate, and cutting the rate instead
* Reducing the burden of regulation to give businesses more freedom and greater flexibility
* Simplifying employment law to make it easier to hire people
* Improving skills training and apprenticeships
* Reforming the Regional Development Agencies to create a vibrant, business-focused force
* Strengthening UK Trade and Investment to give British business a powerful voice abroad
* Increasing government procurement from small firms
We recognise the huge contribution business makes to society – and that’s why we want the modern Conservative Party to be not just the party of business but the party of responsible business.
By ensuring government and business work together, rather than micro-managing from the top down, we will achieve far more for British society than Labour have ever done.
Conservative Party Business Policy :http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Business.aspx
I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on Conservative’s Business policies in the comments below?
“Our goal is simple: to make Britain the easiest and best place in the world to set up and grow a business.”
I like that goal.
I wrote an article on one of my other sites “Britain Attracts Foreign Investors and Entrepreneurs” https://stallion-theme.co.uk/britain-attracts-foreign-investors-and-entrepreneurs/
I was pleasantly surprised to read in another article (the one I based the above article on :-)):
“According to the Legatum Institute, an investment-led think tank which ranks 104 nations on a Prosperity Index of a variety of business and social measures, Britain is second only to the United States for entrepreneurship and innovation — ahead of Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands.”
So much negativity is published in the media of how bad it is in Britain, yet the truth is we are attracting foreign investment and it’s a great place to live as a business owner (I own my own business).
I saw on the news the other night independent retailers are beginning to rent shops in some towns where the big names have pulled out because of the credit crunch and recession.
As we move out of recession we’ll see gaps in the market place filled with new businesses that are stronger than what was there before. Woolworths was already failing before the credit crunch, but they’d failed to act (change their business model).
The gap Woolworths left on our high streets will need to be filled long term and someone’s going to benefit from that opportunity. Every time I walk by an empty shop I see opportunity.
David
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That’s because we have places like the Academy run by Peter Jones and his team, a partly Government Funded project to encourage our youth to consider setting up business.
I think many people would be suprised at just how many people own small business in this country,small companies are account for a VERY large amount of the employment in the UK, the UK is a very attractive market when it comes to setting up businesses.
And even though I am not voting Labour this time, I have to give credit to Gordon Brown for creating that ability within the country, he had done a lot to encourage small business over his time.
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Missed a bit …..
I do hope that the Conservatives (if they win) carry out the policies they have set out for small business, it will help the current small business keep going and help to encourage more.
I think Labour has started to get a little to hard on those small businesses it encouraged to get started with the increase in NI and all the added costs that come with that for small employers, Labour did a good job but in my opinion are now making it hard for those companies to keep growth and expand with the extra costs it is now forcing on small business.
Our economy has a lot of reliance on small business, the Government should be making it easier for them not harder.
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Interestingly my wife sees how Labour and the Conservative governments have balanced one another’s policies out over the years as a good thing.
Conservatives take power and strive forward, take big risks that push the country forward, but inevitably they make mistakes, things goes wrong and they loose support. The Conservatives are like a new business trying to strive for the top, when it goes well it’s great, but when it goes badly, oh crap!
Labour take power and try to stabilise what the Conservatives have built, but then inevitably go to far with trying to control everything we do and loose support. Labour are like a well established business, not very innovative, not willing to take big risks and if they aren’t careful are in danger of being left behind (stagnate).
Don’t take the descriptions too literally.
I don’t agree completely with this view, but to some degree I do see the point. Imagine what Britain would be like if we’d have had 60 years of only Labour or only Conservative governments in power, I think it would have been a complete disaster!!
So my wife sees each government has it’s time before it must be replaced for the good of the country.
You’ll probably see that as we need the Conservatives now, I think one more term of Labour, it’s not the time for a Conservative government: we need stability while climbing out of a recession.
David
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Actually David that was a great way of putting it, and yes you are right.
A Conservative Government are the ideas Government who do push the boundaries and yes Labour does come in to try and stabalise the rate of growth etc (which is a good thing).
But right now we do need the push ahead Government to get the economy on the move again and Labour with their steady steady approach are not going to get the momentum going again with the drive that is currently needed.
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