Introduction into UK politics

It’s election day (UK) in case you’ve been living under a rock  yeaaaaaaaaa! (in not sure if I’m being sarcastic) and it’s looking bad for our current priminster Gordon. Tony has left Labour in a mess and public confidence is at an all time low. Enter stage right, Smooth talkin’ david Cameron has managed to woo to the public and generate a strong support. For a long time it looked as though the Tories(Conservatives) were going to walk away with the trophy that is control of the UK government. BAM! History was made and the first leaders debate was held on ITV. Nick clegg( Liberal democrats leader)was able to impress  and suddenly the sure victory was taken away from the Conservatives.

Now before this election i wasn’t too concerned with politics .I was still grappling with the idea that a single vote cannot change things, in fact i had a debate with a friend on facebook unfortunately, it was deleted.Anyway, i began thinking that now i am in two voting groups that is Student/Graduate and business owner. The out come of this election will really affect me! Therefore, i need too look into this matter more closely.

In this post i will see how the policies of each party will affect business (specifically small business) by analysing their manifesto’s  then conclude on what i think which party best supports my group(small business owners).

Manifesto’s

The Cambridge dictionary defines a manifesto as “a written statement of the beliefs, aims and policies of an organization, especially a political party”

CONSERVATIVES

Heres what the concervative had to say on busuiness:

click link to hear- http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/09.mp3

So to summarise the Concervatives will reduce Taxation on corporations to make the UK  a more attractive place for multinational companies to invest in. They aim to reduce the complexity of  starting a business  “making UK the fastest place in the world to start a business” by creating a one click system of registration. They will make big contracts avaialable to SME’s(small and medium businesses)  and they will be reducing immigration. On their on-line manifesto hey also state they aim:

“To create a new generation of small businesses, our Work for Yourself programme will help move people into self-employment. We will build a network of business mentors and offer substantial loans to would-be entrepreneurs, supporting self-employment and franchising as a route back into work” http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/Where_we_stand/Business.aspx

I like what the Conservatives are generally saying about creating a network of business mentors however, i feel their policies benefit the ‘big dogs’  i.e the corporations more. Referring to the Mp3 it is also interesting how a policy about business turn’t into a discussion about immigration. They really want the Polish to go home ‘FUKIN COMMING OVER HERE STEALLING ALL OUR JOBS’ (laughing out lotsss).I’m not sure about making the UK the fastest place in the world to start a business also,faster doesn’t necessarily mean better.

LABOUR

Labour is  the current government in their manifesto they state the UK has the lowest barriers to entrepreneurship of all the OECD countries and that they are ranked number 5 in the world for entrepreneurship. You know what they say about statistic’s, that 50% are wrong (wait that was a statistic so that might be wrong). I’m not impressed with these claims because being ranked 5th in the world doesn’t help me get a loan from the bank however, i am impressed with the business link service. The business link service was

“developed in partnership with subject experts within government and relevant business-support organisations to help you comply with regulations and improve your performance”

and this did help me When setting up FLYPRINTS. This service is vital for anyone setting wanting to start a business as it shows you the logical steps and all the necessary legal requirements . The labour government Claims that they saved £418 million through administration.  The labour party also state to that by 2011 they will create a on-line service in which entrepreneurs can register their company.  WOW(sarcasm)  the internet has been around for years and they are only now taking these measures. The company “Companies made simple ” did this years ago. They also state that they will “widen the sources of finance available to growing business” and they would also provide “guarantees on lending to business from major banks”.

I really like the What the Labour party has done .Due to their education policies more people than ever went  to university. If I hadn’t had gone to university i wouldn’t have developed such a keen  interest in entrepreneurship. There I meet lots of different people, with different mind sets which opened my eyes up to the world. True freedom is getting out of the rat race and having fiscal autonomy. The Labour party set me on my journey towards self actualisation.

The Liberal Democrats

This is what the Lib dems had this to say on business:

“A fair, competitive market is the best way to nurture enterprise. However, there are areas where market forces alone do not act optimally without government involvement. Our vision is to deliver an economic environment that allows enterprise to flourish, with government acting in a strategic role as an enabler rather than an active participant.”

One of the first things the Lib dems would implement is affordable access to credit for business. FLYPRINTS LTD is at the stage were we require funding to expand our operations. It would be great if  loans and grants were easier to attain. The Lib Dems  say they will do this by splitting up the banking system into two sections high risk banking and low risk “this will ensure that the UK once again has a banking industry that is focused on lending to businesses to support economic growth” .

They aim to create a system which will make it easier for investors to connect with businesses. This will therefore, give small business access to more funding and support through selling equity.I had a discussion about selling equity to an investor with a friend of mine and I said I wasn’t too keen on it as i wanted to maintain control of my company. However, I then said I might consider this option at a later stage. This is a good idea.

They also state that they will offer local enterprise funds. This is “tax efficient investments vehicles to provide seed capital to start-up /stage businesses as they commercialise their ideas” consequently, they will also offer a means for start up to recieve funding.

Following on from  that they will also make business rate relief automatic. Business rate relief is “if you own a small Business which has a rateable value of below £18,000 a year (or less than £25,500 in Greater London) you could claim up to half of your business rates back with the money being paid by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Alistair Darling”. Currently many small businesses are not claiming this.

Conclusion

All three parties are generally saying the same thing when in comes to business. They all want to make the UK and attractive place for corporations to invest, they all aim to my public sector contracts available to SME ‘s (small to medium enterprises) and they are all concerned with reducing the deficit however, based on the facts at hand and what their manifestos had to say on business,  i would duduce that the best party for businesses  is the Liberal Democrats. I say this because they went into the most detail within their manifesto, they came across as the most sincere and they also had very good ideas/policies, but does that mean i would vote for them? As i am not purely a business man other things such and health care/education/national security/ all come into play i’m not sure .I am fairly confident that Gordon Brown can manage the economy very well and at this stage we need a leader who can do that. I also think the conservatives will make changes decisively. The Lib Dems seem like the right vote but are they experienced enough?      Who will you vote for and why? who have you voted for and why?

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