New year, new start, new business

  18 January 2010

Many people up and down the country will be thinking about putting their New Year’s resolutions into practice. As well as finding a new job, many will also be thinking of starting their own business. Conservatives understand that to create the wealth and job opportunities of the future, we need new businesses.

While it may not appear at first sight the best time to start a business, as someone who started his business in the teeth of the last recession, I know from first hand experience if you can make it now, you can make it any time.

So, it is worrying that new Conservative research showed that more businesses have gone bankrupt during this recession than in any previous recession. Even worse, that the Government has initiated over 3,500 winding up orders against businesses since the recession began. That’s why Conservatives believe it is time for change and why we have announced three new policies to help more small businesses start up in the UK.

First, we would cut the time it takes to start a new business in the UK. Currently, it takes twice as long to start a business here as in the USA, Denmark or Hong Kong. Conservatives want to change that, so we would reduce the number of forms needed to register a new company and move towards a ‘one-click’ registration model.

Second, Conservatives would remove the outdated restrictions that prevent people in social housing from starting up their own business. We would seek to prevent local councils and housing associations from including clauses in tenancy agreements that stop social tenants from reasonably running a business at home.

Third, we will end Labour’s practice of pushing thousands of businesses into bankruptcy over small amounts of unpaid taxes. The majority of businesses that have been forced into insolvency has been initiated by the Government, for owing as little as £750. This is why Conservatives will raise the threshold from £750 to £5,000 before a company can be petitioned by the Crown. This will make life easier for entrepreneurs and save jobs.

All of these changes come on top of our plans to help reduce small company corporation tax to 20p, make small business rate relief automatic in England, and abolish the tax on jobs created by new businesses in the first two years of a Conservative Government.

Conservatives understand businesses create wealth, not government; that’s why it’s time for change.