We founded our company six years ago. There are two employees, hopefully three soon, and three directors. We are one of around 5.5 million small businesses in the UK. Together we account for 99.9% of the business population, three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector (source Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)).
Arguably most large and successful businesses started out as small businesses.
Messrs Sunak and Hunt frankly don’t seem to be fans. IR35, dividend rates, a marginal CT rate from next year of 26.5%, cutting the Entrepreneurs’ Relief (now called Business Asset Disposal Relief) from £10m to £1m and now the reduction in R&D tax credits.
So what on earth did Hunt mean when he said that the UK “needs to be better at turning world class innovation into world class companies… I want to combine our technology and science brilliance with our formidable financial services to turn Britain into the next Silicon Valley”. You what now? What does he think the mechanism is for innovation to turn into successful businesses?
Presumably this will be achieved by the usual mix of massive and uncoordinated taxes, red tape and constant change in regulation? And Heaven help anyone who actually succeeds, after years of ploughing money into your business, because the one thing this Government seems to hate more than a small business is a successful small business…