General Election 2024: Enterprise Nation comments on small business policies in Conservative Party manifesto

Commenting on the Conservative Party's manifesto, Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones said:

"It's good to see the Conservative Party prioritising the strivers, the entrepreneurs, and the risk-takers, recognising that by starting a business or becoming self-employed, people are investing their own time and money into their enterprise. Many of their small business proposals align with our manifesto.

"Our Small Business Barometer has consistently found that small businesses want to see the tax burden lowered. So, the self-employed will warmly welcome the pledge to completely abolish the main rate of National Insurance Contributions. They will also appreciate that lowering the overall tax burden is the cornerstone of this manifesto.

However, small businesses will want to see firmer and more decisive action taken on issues affecting high streets, business rates, and a stronger push to eradicate the persistent problem of late payments. On all of these points, the Conservative manifesto was less compelling.

"We welcome the Conservatives' proposals to expand Open Finance, as we have long argued that emerging technologies should be leveraged to boost SMEs' access to finance. It's also encouraging to see continued prioritisation of female entrepreneurs, with the Conservatives listening to our ask to commit to the continuation of the Invest in Women Taskforce.

"We're very pleased to see the Enterprise Investment Scheme, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Venture Capital Trusts, Business Asset Disposal Relief, Agricultural Property Relief, and Business Relief will be retained, as well as the commitment not to increase Capital Gains Tax.

"We hoped to see bolder action proposed on public procurement, with steps taken to prioritise small business access to large government contracts. Unfortunately, the Conservative Party's proposals in this area seems to have been downgraded, which is disappointing.

"Extending the Shared Prosperity Fund for another three years is one of our key requests, as it funds the majority of regional small business support programmes. However, it appears the funding could be spread thinly across local community priorities like supporting businesses and funding new national service plans."

We're tracking the small business policies in political party manifestos here.