Welcoming delegates to the 2009 Annual Confeence, John Wright reminded FSB members that the last time the Annual Conference took place in Wales, in 1997, it was a General Election year.

Prior to last September we could have been repeating the words of Harold Macmillan, that "you had never seen it so good". But by the end of October it was a very different story.

John thanked all those members who had given up their valuable time at both local and regional level to carry out the Keep Trade Local campaign, to attend MP and Councilors' surgeries and to promote and lobby for the FSB. These efforts have made a tremendous difference at National level. it means that when we go and see people,

we can tell them what's happening at the coal face, and we can give them the facts and figures, because we have that intelligence. 

John highlighted the FSB's top 10 lobbying successes, achieved through the efforts of the Federation and its invaluable and hardworking staff:

1. The government agreed to make £1.3 billion available to small businesses, of which 75% is guaranteed to make it easier for banks to loan and finance viable small businesses.
2. Through negotiations with the British Bankers Association, and with the help of Lord Mandelson, we managed to get the banks to agree that business accounts, which previously took up to 40 days, now can be switched in 5 days.
3. Rates bills are the third biggest cost to small businesses, and we have pushed for and assisted in drafting a parliamentary bill for automatic small business rate relief.  We are grateful to Peter Luff, MP, who is taking this Bill forward and we await to see if the Chancellor will include this in his forthcoming Budget. Even if he doesn't, we will keep on pushing because what's right for Wales should be right for England.We were also responsible for the introduction of the Small Business Bonus Scheme in Scotland which will see £135 million cut from 150,000 business rate bills in Scotland.  We want the same for England.
4. Energy bills - we lobbied government to crack down on energy companies that were ripping off our members. They are now placed under much greater scrutiny fromm the Regulator, OFGEM, to ensure they handle all complaints more effectively.
5. Health and Safety - we finally persuaded the government to pioneer an FSB initiative, the Fit Note, to help employers and employees to make sensible decisions about their health and their readiness to return to work.
6. Post Offices - we have campaigned to keep as many Post Offices open as possible and we have worked to ensure that Post Office Limited retained the Poat Office Card account. And we are currently lobbying government to create a Post Bank to provide a local service in banking for our members.
7. Transport - our members overwhelmingly voted NO to a congestion charge in Manchester.  This could have been the thin end of the wedge and created precedents for all of our large cities, meaning extra costs and possibly limiting footfall to members' businesses.
8. Education, Skills and Training - all very imortant to our members. How many times have we said that it is not our job to be doing the work of the schools and colleges? Many of our members are very pleased that we secured £350 million for small businesses through the Train to Gain scheme.
9. Payment times - we persuaded the government to pay their bills within 10 days, and due to members' local pressure, we used this as a lever to get local authorities and other public bodies to pay their bills much earlier.
10. As a final note, as we are in Wales, I am going to make a special mention of the extensive inroads we have made into the Welsh Assembly's Further Education policies - and as a result a £40 million Employer Entitlement Fund has been agreed.

John Wright then told delegates that small businesses are braving the challenges of recession but assured them that they will be supported by the Federation through the bad times. It will be the country's 4.7 million small businesses that fire up the British economy, generate wealth, jobs and help get the economy back on track.

He said this is a hugely difficult and testing year for small businesses. The FSB has had a fantastic year in supporting small businesses which are the lifeblood of our economy and the FSB will continue to do all it can to provide our members with the best shelter to weather the downturn.

We want the storm of recession to end and small businesses are the sector to see us through it. We have already seen some measures to help small businesses through these difficult times but we need to see more: we need to see the banks lending again, suppliers paying up on time and burdensome regulation being delayed. This year's conference could not be a better time for small businesses across the country to come together and fire up the British economy.