Love's Labours Won or Lost
Neil Edwards
Founder, The Marketing Eye. Full journey marketing for innovative financial services and technology brands. Help to Grow Scheme Mentor. Open to consulting, mentoring and NED opportunities. #Altfi #FinTech #Finance.
With Rishi and Jeremy about to play their final hand with the Spring Budget, we small business owners find ourselves at a pivotal point.
Changing tides
We learnt this week from research by Bibby Financial Services (BFS) that 37% of us now view the Labour Party as more aligned with our interests, surpassing the Conservatives, who have seen their support drop to 22%. This change marks a notable move to the left.
The shift in allegiance comes at a time when business optimism is on the rise.
61% of SMEs are said to anticipate sales growth (I can relate to that), inflation is coming back under control and interest rates look set to fall. The Conservatives will seek to take the credit for this.
Policies for growth
Whether the Conservatives can take the credit or not, in the face of widespread dissatisfaction with the political status quo, there's a clear need for policies that incentivise growth and support businesses.
Conservative measures like late payment reforms have failed to rock many entrepreneurs' worlds. Brexit remains a mess, the handling of changes to R&D Tax Credits has been clumsy, and the capital allowance regime is too complex for many to take full advantage of.
We may well see attempts to address previous policy shortcomings on Wednesday, and perhaps some surprises (a.k.a. sweeteners) too.
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Appetite for change
If Jeremy Hunt doesn't get it right this time, the Labour Party's manifesto for business presents a vision that could well resonate with small business owners.
The Labour brochure bristles with promises of a balanced approach to corporate taxation (including capping corporation tax at 25%), a new industrial strategy, significant investments in infrastructure, education, and technology, and the establishment of councils and bodies to ensure active collaboration between government, businesses, and educational institutions.
But the question is, will small business owners believe the promises?
As with any political change, the real impact relies on the specifics of the policies and their execution. How often have we seen manifesto pledges on all sides watered down or quietly dropped altogether?
Power in our hands
The SME constituency is a large one and both parties are going to make a strong pitch for it.
The winning party will be the one with the policies that are the most favourable, comprehensible and believable.
The pledges are important, because where business owners place their x in the ballot box will have profound implications for the next parliament.