Conservatives announce plans to back business and unleash new generation of entrepreneurs

The Conservatives have today [Monday 6^th October 2025] announced plans to back small businesses and unleash a new generation of entrepreneurs to drive economic growth. 

The Party will slash red tape holding business back by making it far quicker and easier for small businesses and the self-employed to open a bank account. 

They will also introduce a system allowing businesses to rate every interaction they have with HMRC. The ratings will be published to measure satisfaction and ensure accountability. 

The Conservatives will provide support for young enterprise schemes involving experienced entrepreneurs and businessmen and women, to ensure that every school and college is able to participate and young people are encouraged to see creating an enterprise as a good career option.

The plan includes increasing the number of ways firms can prove their identity, as well as removing obstacles to proving addresses. The changes will allow low-risk firms to open accounts in two working days or fewer. 

The Conservatives have also today said they will consider reforming IR35, so that the self-employed are able to work flexibly and grow their businesses.

Speaking at Conservative Party Conference today, Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said: 

“We want to reignite a culture of entrepreneurship in Britain. To support and to celebrate those who take a risk. To create a new generation of entrepreneurs. 

“We are on the side of the pub landlord, the restaurateur, the small business owner and family businesses.

“The Conservative Party is the party of business. Those that make, not those that take.”

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

We will improve access to banking for small business and sole traders: 

Our plan for business banking delivers faster, fairer business bank account opening by reforming onerous ‘know your customer' rules and providing much lighter-touch guidance by the financial regulators which make clear merely opening a bank account does not need to liability or sanctions (any fraud duties apply to suspicious transactions but only when an account is used).

Reduce delays:

Broaden acceptable proofs: allow open-banking data, HMRC/DVLA records, verified tenancy/utility attributes via certified providers to meet address requirements. 

Tackle the proof-of-address wall for start-ups and sole traders: 

Amend FCA guidance to require acceptance of certified digital address attributes - including HMRC records, DVLA data, verified tenancy agreements, and recent open-banking transaction histories - when supplied via a DIATF-certified provider. 

Unlock fast digital on-ramps – safely: 

Extend access duty (PARs-style) to designated large payments/e-money institutions once strengthened safeguarding rules are in force (2025/26). 

We will make HMRC more accountable: 

Our plan for HMRC delivers a simple, verified ratings system for every HMRC–SME interaction, turning real-time feedback into public accountability, targeted service improvements, and a measurable uplift in the experience of the millions of small businesses that depend on HMRC.  

Create a Verified Interaction Rating (VIR) for SMEs: 

After each phone call, webchat, case update, letter decision, or visit, the small business contact receives a one-click 2-question prompt: (a) overall experience (1–5) and (b) “problem solved?” (Y/N) + optional free-text. The user experience can be used online and on phone. 

Close the loop: Action logs and SME voice in fixes: 

Each business line publishes a short, rolling “You said → We did” change log (e.g., callback windows, clearer letters, self-serve tweaks). 

Design council: Standing SME Customer Experience Panel (agents, accountants, sector bodies) to review data and co-prioritise improvements quarterly. 

Interoperability & standards: 

Tech: Reuse GOV.UK feedback components and event streams; align with Government Service Manual measurement patterns; open APIs for dashboards. 

Benchmarking: Adopt a core Customer Experience set compatible with US GSA and Singapore (overall satisfaction; trust; ease; resolution), enabling international comparison over time. 

We will unleash a new generation of entrepreneurs: 

Building on excellent work done by existing voluntary bodies, we will run a short competition for credible organisations to bid for funding to run young enterprise schemes in every school and college on a regional and national basis. Government will provide modest seed funding, national coordination, and visibility, but leave design and delivery to the business community. 

Practical enterprise in every school and college: 

Schools and colleges invited to take part in annual enterprise challenges, run and judged by local business panels. 

Mentors not modules: 

Volunteers from the business community provide mentoring and coaching – practical advice from people who have built companies. Local “Enterprise Champions” recognised annually for contribution to schools. 

National showcase: 

Annual UK Young Entrepreneurs Challenge, culminating in a national showcase with the Prime Minister in No10 Downing Street and senior business leaders. Rewards ambition, scale potential and commercial realism – not social objectives. Clear pathway into adult enterprise. Link directly into Start-Up Loans, SEIS/EIS schemes, and apprenticeships, so young people who succeed have a visible “next step”. 

Costing 

The HMRC and business banking policies would be cost neutral. Estimated government contribution for the young entrepreneur's scheme: £25–30 million over three years. 

Seed funding pots for student enterprise teams – £5m annually (£15m over three years). This provides ~£1,000 per team across 5,000–6,000 teams nationally each year, with repayment recycling reducing net cost over time. 

National framework and convening (regional chapters, annual challenge) – £3m annually (£9m over three years). 

Administration, monitoring and evaluation – £1–2m annually (£3–6m over three years). 

Private sector sponsorship and in-kind mentoring expected to exceed £50m in equivalent value across three years (mentoring hours, venue provision, direct sponsorship of competitions). 

Some sponsorship to be used to promote the scheme in nations which co-operate.