Cutting red tape for businesses

 One of the challenges that the coalition Government has had to face is how to help new and small businesses flourish in a challenging economy.  Over the past year I have had the opportunity to meet with a wide range of businesses in and around Dartford and see the work that they do and hear of their concerns. It is clear to me that the future of the economy depends to a large extent on the success of small and medium businesses in towns like Dartford. A common theme that has arisen from speaking to businesses and in particular smaller enterprises, are their concerns regarding the compensation culture and the stranglehold of health and safety red tape which they face in their day to day operations.

This is why I support the announcement made by Prime Minister David Cameron last week to tackle the compensation culture and address the fear from businesses of being sued for trivial matters.  The Government will extend the current scheme that caps the amount that lawyers can earn from small value personal injury claims, and reduce overall costs in cases funded by 'no win no fee' deals.  This will help bring down the cost of many cases and deter the speculative health and safety claims made against good businesses that have not done anything wrong.

This initiative will combine well with the announcements that have already been made to support small businesses. These include cutting corporation tax and fuel duty, increasing business loans from banks by 15% and the creation of Enterprise Zones. There is no magic wand that can be waved that will guarantee success for small businesses but the Government is committed to doing all it can to help businesses generate the wealth that will ultimately take us out of our current economic difficulties.