Liberal Democrats in Business

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Chancellor's New Scheme Will Not Impress Small Businesses

3.55.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 25th May 2004

Responding to news that the Chancellor is planning to help small companies access finance through a new US-style funding programme, Brian Cotter MP, Liberal Democrat Small Business Spokesman, said: "This latest announcement will not mask the fact that many small businesses are still being strangled by Labour's red tape and a baffling tax system, which is the unhelpful legacy of the Chancellor's incessant tinkering.

"Small companies will not forget the way the Chancellor pulled the rug from under their feet in the last Budget, by reversing the special tax status he had granted them just two year's previously.

"By continually giving with one hand and taking away with the other, Gordon Brown is actually creating an unstable environment for small businesses.

"It is no surprise that he has presided over a 20% rise in bankruptcies since 1997."

ENDS

Notes

  • Speaking in New York yesterday, Gordon Brown told a US-UK enterprise forum of his plans to roll out a new programme for Enterprise Capital Funds, in the coming spending review. The news scheme is aimed at helping improve access to finance for small companies with a mixture of public and private money.

  • Figures produced in November 2003, in the Bank of England's Quarterly Report on Small Business Statistics, showed that the the number of businesses failures by liquidation or bankruptcy grew by almost 20% between 1997 and 2002.

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