FREEING BUSINESSES TO FLOURISH AND GROW

Businesses are the goose that lay the golden egg in this country. Without the entrepreneurial skill of business owners large and small, resources would not be generated through taxes and wages to support jobs, infrastructure and all the services paid for through taxation.

We want to see businesses flourish and grow.

Nationally, the Conservative Party recognises 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. Labour has tied up business in red tape, taxation and a recession based on unsustainable asset prices and national debt.

Nationally, the Conservatives are working to help business. We are proposing:

• 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, such as SEEDA, to create a vibrant, business-focused force
• Strengthening the UK Trade and Investment organization to give British business a powerful voice abroad
• Increasing government procurement from small firms
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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.

Locally, the City Council in Brighton and Hove has been working hard as well, on its anti-recession package since the Autumn of 2008.

The Council has:

* Launched a "Be Local Buy Local" campaign to support local retailers (over 100 businesses currently signed up)
* Launched the Business Lifebelt scheme to offer practical assistance and advice to firms in the city.
* Promoted the uptake of small business rate relief - this has so far helped over 500 firms in the City save £400,000. It is
also in the process of lobbying the Government to try and get them to make rate relief automatic as many small businesses are still not claiming money which is rightfully theirs.
* is working to pay small businesses for goods and services within 10 days
* offered small businesses the option of monthly rental payments
* offered businesses the option of paying rates in 12 installments rather than 10
A recession 'taskforce' has also been created with local businesses to look in more depth at what more can be done.

East Sussex, like many councils, has been looking into a variety of different ways to help local residents and businesses through the recession. One consideration is whether or not councils could create new bank-type institutions to help local small and medium-sized businesses access business credit more easily.

All this work is being carried out by Conservatives at different levels of government to provide the best possible climate for businesses to grow and flourish.

In turn, our goal is to see more businesses earning good profits, employing more people and at good wage levels.