Responding, Trade Secretary Liz Truss said: “Despite what
they claim, Labour are not on the side of small businesses. Their
plans to raise corporation tax and introduce a four-day week will
hit businesses hard. “SMEs don’t need a new quango, they
need certainty. All Corbyn’s Labour will bring is higher taxes
and uncertainty with no plan for Brexit and the chaos of two more
referendums next year. “Only a majority...Request free trial
Responding, Trade Secretary said:
“Despite what they claim, Labour are not on the side of
small businesses. Their plans to raise corporation tax and
introduce a four-day week will hit businesses hard.
“SMEs don’t need a new quango, they need
certainty. All Corbyn’s Labour
will bring is higher taxes and uncertainty with no plan for
Brexit and the chaos of two more referendums next
year.
“Only a majority Conservative government can provide the
certainty businesses need, get Brexit done and bring costs down
for SMEs by cutting business rates so that they can realise their
potential."
ENDS
Notes to editors
Labour aren’t on the side of small
businesses…
-
Labour will raise taxes on small businesses,
despite promising not
to. Labour’s manifesto pledges to
reintroduce the small profits rate of corporation tax, hiking
taxes on small businesses from 19 per cent currently to 21
per cent. In 2017, claimed: ‘we will not
raise the small business corporation tax
rate’ (, Speech to
FSB, 11 April, 2017, link;
, Manifest
2019, 21 November 2019, link).
-
Labour’s own report said that Corbyn’s plan to
introduce a shorter working week would lead to problems for
small businesses in particular. A
Labour-commissioned report says low-paid workers, the
self-employed and small businesses would experience ‘special
problems’ from a shorter working week, but has chosen to proceed
with the plans anyway (Progressive Economy
Forum, How to achieve shorter working hours, 12
September 2019, link).
-
Labour’s Shadow Chancellor said that business is
‘the real enemy’ and said it’s part of his job description to
overthrow capitalism. is hostile towards
businesses. When he was asked whether there was a difference
between transforming the economy and overthrowing capitalism,
he said ‘I don’t think there is… I want a socialist society’
(The Times, 21 May
2018, link; , POA
Conference, 12 May 2011, archived).
-
Labour want to repeal trade union laws – lifting
the ban on secondary picketing and backing strikes wherever
they occur. McDonnell has said he
would let UK workers go on sympathy strike with strikers
anywhere in the world (Evening Standard, 22 February
2017, link; Daily
Mail, 22 December
2018, link).
-
Labour would hike fuel duty and take money away
from road improvements – hitting businesses across the
country who will face higher
costs. said that Labour would
increase fuel duty, hitting thousands of businesses with
higher costs. He also described the Government’s decision to
launch the biggest ever cash injection for roads as ‘the
wrong decision’ (The Sun, 21 March
2019, link; ITV
News, 27 October 2018, link).
The Conservatives will back the small
businesses who create jobs and boost our
economy…
· We
will launch a fundamental review of business rates to reduce
the overall burden on business. We
recognise that business rates are one of the top concerns of
British businesses and that many businesses struggle with the
current system. Whilst we have introduced a series of new
reliefs, we will now conduct a fundamental review of the entire
system, working with a wide array of groups to make sure we get
this right. We will also commit to real reductions in the
overall burden of business rates through this review
(Conservative Party, Manifesto 2019, 24 November
2019, link).
· We
will raise the Employment Allowance from £3,000 to £4,000,
giving small business a half a billion pound tax
cut. Employers pay Class 1 National
Insurance Contributions on their employees’ earnings. The
Employment Allowance is currently claimed by over 1 million
employers to reduce their employer NICs bills by up to £3,000.
Increasing it to £4,000 will provide a tax cut of up to £1,000
for more than half a million businesses. This will amount to
almost a half a billion-pound tax cut for small businesses
(Conservative Party, Manifesto 2019, 24 November
2019, link).
-
We will extend the retail discount to 50 per cent
next year, cutting taxes by £1,400 for small
businesses. We will increase the
retail discount from 33 per cent to 50 per cent in 2020-21.
This would be an effective £280 million tax cut which would
help small businesses on the high street in particular. This
applies to properties with a rateable value of less than
£51,000. We will also extend the retail discount to all
cinemas and music venues. The average corner shop will get a
£1,400 cut in their business rates from the extension in the
retail discount (Conservative Party, Manifesto
2019, 24 November 2019, link).
-
Supporting start-ups to grow, creating the great
British companies of tomorrow. The
Start Up Loans programme, delivered through the British
Business Bank, has lent £500 million to support 64,000
entrepreneurs (British Business Bank, accessed 20
June 2019, link).
-
Helping small businesses access the finance they
need. We set up a British Business
Bank, which has already supported over 90,000 small
businesses with over £7 billion of finance
(HMT, News Story, 17 April 2019, link).
-
Providing a multi-million package of support for
small businesses helping them to grow and reach their full
potential. We are creating a small
business leadership academy, business mentoring and peer
networks to unlock the potential of small and medium sized
businesses (HMT, News Story, 1 October
2018, link).
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