To those not casting a watchful eye over the UK’s political parties and their manifestos, at a glance the parties for Election 2015 are deadlocked in argument surrounding various subjects. Migration, the EU and education are important topics, but it is business where all parties are in agreement. Proceedings need to be improved, with each main party’s claims presented below:

SNP

• Resist the withdrawal from the European Union
• Employment Allowance Increase to £6k per business per year.
• Spotlight decentralisation of influences over employment policy, covering minimum wage, business tax, NI, policy over equality and welfare.

Conservatives

• No VAT increase, no income tax increase and no NI increase.
• Increase the Start-Up Loan Programme three fold, ensuring entrepreneurs get the opportunity to borrow funds in order to start up their new business.
• Raised targets for Small to Medium Enterprises share of central government procurement to a third.
• Not one person working 30 hours on minimum wage will ever pay income tax on the money they earn.

Labour

• Extra support for small businesses with a cut in business rates, frozen energy bills and taking on the increasing issue around late payments.
• Cut business rates for over 1,500,000 business properties – and then freeze them.
• Form an Administration system for small businesses, ensuring procurement contracts are available with regulations tailored towards smaller firms.
• Lift the Minimum Wage to above £8 per hour by October 2019.
• Ban zero hour contracts and increase the living wage.

UKIP

• Any business hiring 50 or more individuals must provide, after one year, a full time or part time contract should an employee request it.
• Present an arrangement where small businesses can provide evidence of repeated late payments, beyond agreed terms, together with evidence that timely requests for payments have been made, to HMRC.
• Employ a scheme to increase the availability to trade credit insurance to SMEs.
• A 20% rate relief if a business only has one property with a rateable value of under £50k.

Plaid Cymru

• Raise business relief rates in Wales.
• Create and progress a Welsh Banking development.
• Introduce and trial a ‘not-for-dividend energy company’ putting energy and natural resources into the hands of the Welsh people.

Lib Dems

• A huge development for apprenticeships.
• Double innovation and spending on research across the UK’s economy.
• Continue the reforming of business tax in order to ensure it remains competitive.
• SME’s will be a priority for any business tax cuts.
• Enlarge the British Business Bank to achieve a more central role in the economy.

Greens

• Reduce NI for employers.
• Ensure that the highest wage within ANY organisation is no more than 10x the lowest.
• Improve the position of small firms by maintaining corporation tax at 20% for small firms – with 30% for larger firms.
• Make it an easier process for small businesses to employ employees and contribute towards paying an acceptable living wage amount – using receipts from a wealth tax to reduce NI for employers to 8%.

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