Gareth Johnson meets with Federation of Small Business

This week, I hosted a conference in Westminster of Kent business owners with the Federation of Small Business. The theme of the meeting was ‘Keep Trade Local’, and was designed to give small business owners in Dartford and North Kent a chance to give their views on the current issues affecting businesses.

Whilst optimism is perhaps better than it has been in recent years, many small businesses are trading in difficult circumstances.  Before I was elected as Dartford’s MP, I worked for a small business and so I have some understanding of the challenges they face. Small businesses can be the soul of local communities and are vital if we are to see our local towns and villages flourish. Yet they can easily become strangled by bureaucracy, complex taxation laws and unnecessary red tape.

The Federation of Small Business is clear in their view that small businesses are the glue that binds together local communities. It is certainly the case that they can generate wealth, employment and opportunity for those people willing to run them.

Last year saw the highest number of new business start ups for ten years so there is no lack of people willing to take this courageous step.  The passion and enthusiasm some of these entrepreneurs demonstrated during the conference gave me a sense of optimism for small businesses. The Government has a crucial role to play in creating the right environment for small businesses to be successful but Government can only ever be part of the story.