All the main political parties have made their bid for the small business vote as political fever heats up.
The Small Business Debate, hosted by Enterprise Nation at the ICAEW’s Great Hall, aimed to tackle the questions “that matter” for Britain’s small firms with each party explaining their policies on tax, business support and international trade.
The debate raised some interesting, sometimes controversial, points including Labour’s plans to bring in additional free childcare should the party come to power, the Conservatives plans to expand business rate relief, and the Green Party’s aversion to exports.
But it was a case of absence really does make the heart grow fonder. After Ukip failed to turn up for the Question Time-style debate, “before and after” polls revealed that the party’s support had doubled among the 160 small business owners in the audience. Then again, it was only from one per cent to two per cent.
A show of hands revealed that all but two of the audience of the Enterprise Nation event in the City wanted Britain to stay in the European Union.
Matthew Hancock, Conservative minister of state for business and enterprise, was the night’s winner on stage, with 45 per cent of the audience indicating after the debate that they would vote Tory in the general election, compared with 37 per cent beforehand.
Support for Labour edged up only slightly, by a point to 31 per cent.
Among the topics up for discussion were:
- Business rates: the business equivalent of council tax brings in £26 billion a year but is deeply unpopular. It is based on 2008 property valuations — the peak of the market — and the collection and appeals system is chaotic
- Tax reliefs: with tax avoidance a concern for voters, entrepreneurs and investors are concerned that reliefs such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme, which helps small companies to raise funding, and entrepreneurs’ relief from capital gains tax could be at risk
- Late payment: poor payment practices remain an intractable problem. The Tories say they will force big business to be open about payment terms. Labour wants to force later payers to pay interest and to ban “pay to stay”.