Budget 2024: An Entrepreneur’s Plea to the UK Government

Originally sent exclusively to The Letter subscribers on October 28. Want to be the first to get my personal newsletter in your inbox every Monday at 7am? Subscribe for free here.

I have a rule - a rule I am about to break.

The rule is simply this: in all my content, “never do religion or politics.”

That being said, within just a few sleeps, the landscape we all operate in could change so much that I feel I have to lay some commentary to rest.

I am sure you can guess where I sit on the political spectrum. It’s simply “Steady Eddie”: no tricks and no surprises, with heaps of continuity and a justification of allowing people to reap rewards for their hard work.

The politics of envy has long been proven to be a farce, and I hope it doesn’t turn up on the next train.

I want a government that keeps us safe and creates infrastructure to live a nice life, to have a light touch on us, and to understand that they themselves - our politicians - are only around for such a short period of time.

They should put their egos and vanity ideas out of the way if they can’t deliver during their tenure. They are not blessed with long-term posts, unlike entrepreneurs who revel in delayed gratification.

Entrepreneurs can think in decades, often what true success takes.

I also want hard work to be rewarded, especially for those who drive the economy, put their houses on the line to get a business off the ground, and then tie themselves up in knots of anxiety to keep it all going in the early days.

Those who create opportunities for their families and communities should be applauded.

Furthermore, I want to attract the world to do business in the UK and encourage the most talented to stay here or come here.

I passionately thank anyone who employs just one person, pays them, and takes on that role of employer,?often paying them before themselves.

I want us taxed just enough, in the lowest possible way, and to make personal responsibility the headline of the day.

I hate the rumours of more turnover taxes marching over the hill. The ammunition to take us out is “Employers’ NI” - a turnover tax punishing you for employing people. Absurd.

Since I became a business owner (running the same business that I cobbled together as a 16-year-old with some second-hand DJ equipment, a puppet, and some balloon models, with bags of hunger and determination—determination to do whatever it takes) we’ve had eight CEOs of this country, paid from day one.

I didn’t holiday or pay myself for more time than I like to admit when I took the job of entrepreneur!

We call the country’s CEOs prime ministers. Ultimately, they’re the big cheese of the United Kingdom. My company has me as the Big Cheese - and don’t I know it, especially when it gets tough.

I have had some fantastic captains who stood by when we nearly sank the ship on more than one occasion! We’d sail harder and get the ship back on course no matter what.?We didn’t deviate from our goals, following one course until successful.

We knew we had to answer for the errors we made along the way. I would take more personal financial risk than anyone else I personally know.

I believe you are your own economy.?It’s a fantastic discipline.

Governments are, in my opinion, largely made up of hardworking individuals who do care. I’ve met many MPs from both sides. They're good, hard-working people.

Whether we think they’re?effective?is a discussion for long drinking sessions, and I don’t drink!

Broadly, over my career, whoever is in has been a pebble in my shoe—mainly on pesky planning and turnover taxes, which I believe are grossly unfair (have I mentioned turnover taxes before?). That said, I’ve been able to carry on walking. Never have I felt that pebble would be landmines to my endeavours—until now.

All my entrepreneurial friends had that same pebble. Sure, we moaned about it, but it came with broadly safe systems, banking, laws, infrastructure, and fairness.

I, like them, had 70 million people to sell to, which is very helpful if you’re a business! In addition, we had London—which is a far more powerful asset than we may realise.

I love my country, full of rich history, talent, and generally great people who play a fair game.

The UK has always been a fantastic place to start and do business. One of the best in the world.

Is that about to change?

For me to work, and for my companies to work, I need fellow entrepreneurs around to make the economy tick.

An economy is like a watch: lots of cogs all working together to keep everything turning. I see the government as the case and the strap keeping it all together, protecting us from harm. Inside the watch is a battery, powering a marvellous mechanical masterpiece to keep it ticking.

Entrepreneurs are the battery of our economy. I fear if these Budget rumours are true, the ticks will stop.

Everything we love—from entertainment to communication, medicine to transport—can all be traced back to a risk-taking, sacrificing entrepreneur.

Take the energy away from an economy and it’s curtains. We become a nice place to go for a city break.

These rumours are not the opinions of Colin down the pub; they’re the opinions of articles in the most respected financial press in the world.

The smoke to the fire is starting to whiff, more than I like to admit.

I beg you, Prime Minister and Chancellor, be very careful with your momentous Budget day.

I try very hard not to have a biased opinion of my profession, and probably yours, dear reader. You probably agree with me—you’re a capitalist, and I chose my life of entrepreneurship. So did you.

It’s devilishly tough, piled on with personal guarantees, risk, heartache, and a will to keep going. Knowing that most fail is data we all turn a blind eye to.

That will that has made our country so great is becoming questioned; people are moving their batteries elsewhere, and for the first time ever, I get it. I’m sad about it.

Every entrepreneur we can get our hands on should be the government’s top priority to pay for our aspirations.

For any politician that this gets under the nose of, I want to assure you that every true entrepreneur I meet takes their gains and goes again until the day they die.

They invent, create, and do the impossible with frugality at heart. Sure, they may have a nicer house and car and reward themselves, but many wouldn’t cope with the shoes they walk in. We need them; we need them to stay here and not move away.

The world’s a smaller place, and communications make being anywhere easier.

I hope these rumours are playground gossip and that we all wake up on Thursday and find the bad smell of turnover taxes, smaller economies, and an exodus of talent is just a bad dream that leaves us like a smelly fart.

On tax: the fastest way to teach your kids about taxes is to eat 30% of their ice cream. Who knows - this time next week, it may mean you get to eat more than half!

To your continued success,

P.S. Our final event of the year is one week away! Buying Business is on the 4th November and I’d love to see you there. Find out more here.