UK General Election - What’s in it for Small Businesses?
With small businesses owners having worked so hard to survive these past few years, enduring pandemic crisis, post pandemic crisis and the disastrous mini budget of 2022, the repercussions of which have not yet quite faded, the cost of living crisis and not to mention Brexit and its aftermath, this summer sees us all being flung into the realms of uncertainty for a further few weeks. And if there’s one thing we can all do without, in business, it’s uncertainty.
So, what can small business owners expect over the next few weeks?
Given that the small business sector is so vital to the UK economy, and with some 5.5 million small business owners employing some 16 million further voters*, all political parties will need to offer tangible benefits and, above all, a sense of certainty that will last the next four or five years to the next election and beyond. It is only with some stability that businesses can plan, invest and take the plunge and financial risk of going for growth.
Small businesses will be looking to pro-business policies:
where the tax burden is commensurate with being able to make decent profits,
where employment regulations mean business owners can provide decently paid, fulfilling jobs while still being able to run a profitable enterprise,
where sustainability can be achieved,
where the personal stress experienced by so many small business owners can be reduced. Small business policies need to be about people and their well-being as well as money and the bottom line.
Bringing down the cost of doing business will be a key area that small business owners will be looking at closely along with what proposals are being made for the broader economy as context is vital if small business are going to be encouraged to start up or grow.
Above all, small business, such as Athena Services, will be seeking clarity, something politicians are not always too keen to provide. We will be keeping a close eye on statements from parties and would encourage all small business owners to engage – small businesses are at the heart of all communities, they are the pulse and flow of the country, and we should be at the heart of all election manifestos.
*Figures taken from the FSB website: