[This article was published in the Belfast Newsletter on Tuesday 2 July 2024]
As we enter the final straight of the General Election race, with numerous commitments and enticements from across the parties, one thing has emerged as common ground – the need to grow the economy if any of the wish-lists are to be afforded. Given that the UK economy is largely made up of SMEs, that’s the sector that government needs to look after if it is to deliver that much-vaunted growth.
As soon as Rishi Sunak announced the election, FSB was quickly out of the blocks with its manifesto, a detailed policy document outlining what an incoming government needs to do to support the SME engine of growth. The complexion of that government remains entirely unknown until Friday, so small businesses have pressed the case with every single party across the UK to try to get as many as possible to commit to do what they can to deliver – whether in government, coalition, confidence-and-supply, or even as an informed and supportive Opposition. After a flurry of announcements all of the local parties have now published their own manifestos and, looking across them, the small-business message has clearly landed. FSB called for a reduction in the cost of employing people; an increase in the VAT threshold; barriers to growth to be removed; lower corporation tax in Northern Ireland to give an opportunity to compete fairly with the Republic and to maximise the differences caused by the Windsor Framework; and much more.
Many of the parties have drawn on FSB’s manifesto – committing themselves to support our key policy ‘asks’. That’s not only welcome, but it is essential. The last few years have shown that, just like businesses and households, even governments have to live within their means - and demonstrate that they can and will do so - otherwise the markets will decide they cannot be trusted and will withdraw funding, creating chaos, instability and damage. That’s why it matters, and that’s why we are looking to see which parties are proposing positive, pro-growth measures to support SMEs.
FSB fiercely protects its political impartiality – we engage with all parties, working to explain why businesses need the interventions for which we call, to let them and the wider economy prosper. We don’t advise our members how to vote, nor any of Northern Ireland’s 130,000 SMEs and self-employed, but we do encourage them to look at which parties have drawn on FSB’s manifesto calls for inspiration and committed to deliver aspects of it if they find themselves in positions of influence after the Election. It really matters. Governments don’t create jobs, nor wealth, nor do they have money of their own. They raise money through a variety of taxes and levies – last year alone they collected just shy of one TRILLION pounds in this way – and then they borrow to cover the shortfall. But what governments can, indeed, do is to create the conditions that will let business thrive; generating jobs and profits, from which taxes will flow. Get that right, and the future will be buoyant; but fail to act, or do things that make business more difficult, and there will not be sufficient resources to pay for the enticements that have appeared in all party manifestos.
Several of the local parties have made manifesto commitments that are very much in tune with business. This is to be greatly welcomed – and FSB will remind the parties of these commitments as legislation progresses in Westminster, to maximise the chances of them being delivered. Other parties have made little reference to business preferring, instead, to propose different policies but with little clarity around how they might be funded. Such is the stuff of elections, but it is a serious matter, because all parties will attract some votes based on what they propose, so if they haven’t done the hard policy work, and shown how they would pay for what they would do, and balance the books, it risks misleading the electorate. So all of us have a responsibility to read the commitments; to test the claims being made; to consider who will help businesses to grow the economy and make ourselves a stronger, wealthier place that lives within its means, which can then afford better public services.
So this Thursday, in the spirit of the Euros, it’s important to find the box and put a cross in it if business is to be on the winning side!