Government must do more for entrepreneurs, says cross-party group of MPs at the launch of An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto

The government must implement a package of pro-entrepreneurship reforms to revitalise the economy, said a cross-party group of MPs and business leaders at the launch of a new initiative designed to champion entrepreneurs in British politics.

Speaking at the launch of The Entrepreneurs Network's new publication An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto in the House of Lords, the MPs outlined their proposals for reform of Britain’s entrepreneurship policies, which include a call for increased university commercialisation of scientific innovations by Liberal Democrat Party President Tim Farron MP and an alignment of development aid objectives with British trade policy in emerging markets by Conservative MP George Freeman.

The Manifesto comprises 17 papers by entrepreneurs, politicians and civil society representatives from across the business world and political spectrum. Each paper proposes one way to support and promote high-growth start-up businesses in Britain. Authors include Toby Perkins MP, Anne Marie Morris MP, George Freeman MP, Tim Farron MP, Adam Afriyie MP, and Simon Danczuk MP.

The manifesto puts emphasis on the international and educational reforms needed to encourage entrepreneurial pursuits in the UK. It outlines a more flexible visa system for international graduates who want to be entrepreneurs, explains how entrepreneurs can benefit from growth in emerging markets, and discusses how schools and colleges can better promote entrepreneurship and scientific innovation to give business experience to all young people.

Tax reform is emphasised, including the extension of Entrepreneurs’ Relief, the introduction of business advice vouchers, the provision of tax relief for small businesses, and business rate reform.

Commenting on the manifesto:

Philip Salter, Director of The Entrepreneurs Network, said: "The Government must deliver more policies to allow entrepreneurs to succeed. Entrepreneurship does not belong to any political party, and I'm encouraged to see cross-partisan recognition that there is much more that can be done to help start-ups flourish today."

Toby Perkins, Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Small Business,  author of 'Access to finance is vital for entrepreneurs to flourish', said:

“Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the British economy. Many of the suggested reforms put forward in An Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto, which would aim to give small businesses better access to educational and financial support, have the potential to provide a real boost to the UK economy.”

Anne Marie Morris, Conservative MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Micro Business and Vice Chair of the APPG for Entrepreneurship, and author of 'The importance of definition for micro business', said:

“The policy ideas put forward in An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto can have a really positive impact on entrepreneurship in Britain. I’m proud to have contributed alongside other MPs to this collaboration and as Vice Chair of the APPG for Entrepreneurship, am excited to see how this manifesto can translate into policy.”

Guy Myles, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Octopus Investments, a sponsor of TEN, said:

“Entrepreneurial Britain is crucial to our economic prosperity and we need to ensure that we do everything we can to enable enterprise and high growth businesses to thrive in the UK. An Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto brings together many positive ideas to achieve this outcome. With a general election on the horizon, we need all the political parties to make sure their own manifestos address the needs of entrepreneurs to ensure that growing businesses across Britain can continue to help drive our economic growth."

Key quotes from the report:

Tim Farron MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, and author of 'We need to capitalise on our scientific excellence', said:

“Commercialising the UK’s research output is a potential open goal for the country’s entrepreneurs and scientists. If the UK is to move beyond the occasional bright spot of success, it will require both academics and entrepreneurs being willing to shift from their comfort zones and learn about each other’s worlds.”

Simon Danczuk, Labour MP and member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, and author of 'A Small Business Kitemark would foster local government best practice', said:

“One of the best ways a local authority can help a small business is to simply get out of the way. The sheer number of regulations a business has to navigate costs small businesses huge amounts in time and money and can be a deterrent to young entrepreneurs. I would therefore like to see local authorities committed to reducing the number of regulations small businesses are subject to by having a Red Tape Challenge similar to the one currently operating on a national level.”

George Freeman MP, UK Trade Envoy, and author of 'An integrated approach to aid and trade could unlock a new cycle of growth', said:

 “The UK has a choice: become an ever older, less productive, insular, more public sector and tax dependent ‘former’ European power or embrace these new markets and be the provider of the innovation and knowledge based expertise these economies will need. To do that we need to think less like a big corporation (UK plc) and more like a start-up (UK.net)."

Adam Afriyie MP, author of 'All schoolchildren should be given the opportunity to start and run their own business', said:

“Entrepreneurship is not just for middle-class kids or those from privileged backgrounds… Whatever your background, if you’re enterprising and hard-working, business will give you a leg up.”

For further comment or to arrange an interview with any of the authors of the report, please email philip@tenentrepreneurs.org or phone 0207 222 4995. 

An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto was formally launched in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 11 March 2014.

The Entrepreneurs Network is a cross-party think tank designed to bring entrepreneurs to the forefront of political discourse and help make Britain the best place in the world to start a business. The Entrepreneurs Network is based within the Adam Smith Institute and is supported by Octopus Investments, one of the UK’s fastest growing fund management companies specialising in smaller company investing.

Real Business Article on An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto

Summary

Jack Torrance from Real Business covered the launch of An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto, which was hosted in the House of Lords on Tuesday March 11th by The Entrepreneurs' Network, in association with the Adam Smith Institute.

Read the article here.

Read An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto here.

Conservative Home publishes MP Adam Afriyie’s paper from An Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto

Conservative Home published Adam Afriyie’s paper: All schoolchildren should be given the opportunity to start and run their own businesses.

Read the article here.

Afriyie's paper forms part of An Entrepreneurs' Manifesto, which will be launched by The Entrepreneurs Network, in association with the Adam Smith Institute, tonight in the House of Lords.

Ben Southwood is Featured in City AM

The ASI's Head of Policy, Ben Southwood, was featured in a City AM article, critiquing comments made by the Bank of England Deputy governor at the North East Chamber of Commerce regarding low interest rates.

Read the article here.

Ben said: “It shouldn't be much of a surprise to Charlie Bean that depreciation in Sterling has failed to have much of an effect on UK exports—given that it has been mirrored by inflation in the UK, even if this inflation has taken longer, since prices in the real economy can lag behind fast-moving financial market prices.

“Between Jan 2007 and Jan 2014 the RPI index increased 25.3 per cent, with much of that increase coming 2009-2011. We shouldn't reason from a price change alone—a monetary policy-driven change in exchange rates does not change terms of trade.”

City AM features Emma Jones' paper from The Entrepreneurs' Manifesto

City AM published Emma Jones' paper: The Power of Three: How big business could join government to support small companies.

Read the article here.

Jones' paper forms part of The Entrepreneurs' Manifesto, which will be launched by The Entrepreneurs Network, in association with the Adam Smith Institute, on Tuesday March 11 in the House of Lords.

Comment: Immigration minister should read his own report

Commenting on the immigration minister James Brokenshire's debut speech this morning, Sam Bowman, Research Director at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“Today’s migration impact report released by the government confirms what economists and businesses have been saying for years: that immigration is good for Britain, and we need more of it.

“Contrary to the claims of immigration minister James Brokenshire today, immigrants have no long-term negative impact on native wages or employment rates, and by acting as innovators and entrepreneurs probably have a substantially positive impact on natives overall. The mild short-term disemployment effects found in the report can be eased through labour force deregulation and welfare reforms.

“The government’s cap on migration is crude and harmful to growth – the ‘cure’ is worse than the disease. The report highlights that even the mild, short-term negative impact on employment associated with immigration applies only to low-skilled migrants. The government should therefore only include unskilled migrants on tier-3 work visas in its cap, to allow British businesses to hire the best and brightest skilled workers the world has to offer.

“In the longer run, the cap should be dropped altogether, in tandem with welfare and labour market reforms to reduce the impact of unskilled immigrants on unskilled native workers.

“The Conservative Party once claimed to stand for economic growth, open markets and individual liberty. If Mr Brokenshire’s speech today is any sign, those days are over. Instead, the Conservatives have retreated to the worst kind of populist protectionism on immigration, sacrificing long-term prosperity for short-term electoral gain.”

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07980 627940.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Real Business Publishes MP Toby Perkin's Paper from The Entrepreneurs' Manifesto

Real Business published MP Toby Perkin’s paper: Access to finance is vital for entrepreneurs to flourish.

Read the article here.

Perkin’s paper forms part of The Entrepreneurs' Manifesto, which will be launched by The Entrepreneurs Network, in association with the Adam Smith Institute, on Tuesday March 11 in the House of Lords.

Libertarian Home Writes Feature on Sam Bowman

Libertarian Home writes a feature article on Research Director Sam Bowman, who will be speaking at their minimum wage event Thursday, March 6th.

Read the feature here.

Sam takes down the government's migration policy in City A.M.

Research director Sam Bowman explained what's wrong with the government's immigration target in today's edition of City A.M.

Read the case here.

Comment: Minimum Wage rise risks harming workers; cut taxes on the poor instead

Commenting on the Low Pay Commission's recommendation that the National Minimum Wage should rise by 3% today, the Adam Smith Institute's Research Director Sam Bowman said:

“The empirical evidence is pretty clear that minimum wage increases lead to more unemployment (http://www.nber.org/papers/w12663), slow growth in the creation of low-skilled jobs (http://www.nber.org/papers/w19262), and lead to long-term reductions in some people’s income by ‘kicking away the ladder’ and delaying their acquisition of workplace skills (http://www.nber.org/papers/w10656). These risks are significant enough that raising the minimum wage should be judged as, at best, a very risky way of helping the poor and runs the risk of harming them instead.

“Instead, there are two things the government should do to help the working poor. It should peg the personal allowance and, crucially, the national insurance threshold to the minimum wage level, so nobody on minimum wage pays any tax on their income. This would give full-time minimum wage workers almost exactly as much income as they would be on a “Living Wage” that was being taxed at current levels. If necessary, the 40p rate threshold should be lowered to offset this for those earners to make sure that this is targeted at low- and middle- income earners only.

“In the medium-term, the government should simplify the tax credits system and overhaul welfare in general along the lines of a ‘Negative Income Tax’, which automatically topped up low-income workers’ wages with a steady taper to avoid disincentivising work. The simpler income redistribution is, the better for low-paid workers.

“A 3% rise in the minimum wage is modest so the negative effects that it has are also likely to be modest. Nevertheless, it is still likely to be harmful on net. Rather than trying to shift costs to businesses, the government should accept that it cannot wave a magic wand to help the poor. Instead it has to accept the existence of trade-offs and find savings elsewhere to pay for much-needed tax cuts for the poor."

For further comment email sam@adamsmith.org.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.