Weekly Brief from the London Press &Parliamentary Office

Week 48 of 2008              Friday 28 November 2008

 

In this week's issue: Pre-Budget report delivers £1billion fund; tax cuts; pressure on the banks; National Chairman profiled in The Times; Christmas for small firms; crimes against businesses

 

£1billion for small businesses

The FSB was celebrating a victory in the Pre-Budget report this week after the Chancellor announced a new £1billion fund is being set up for small businesses. This Small Business Finance Scheme is exactly what the FSB has been calling for: a £1billion fund for small firms who have been turned down for loans. The Times reported the announcement by saying Alistair Darling bowed to the FSB's calls; the Financial Times also noted the FSB's win in getting the fund, as did the Daily Mirror and other national newspapers and broadcasters.

 

Tax decreases – a headache?

Most of the national newspapers and broadcasters focused on the tax breaks for small businesses announced in the Pre-Budget Report. The Guardian reported the FSB as welcoming the chance to get a breather from the taxman, as did The Sun and the Daily Mail.

 

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported on how FSB members were concerned the 2p increase in fuel duty would increase small firms' overheads, despite the VAT decrease. FSB members told The Times that the VAT decrease would be difficult and costly to implement straight away.

 

Banks

The Royal Bank of Scotland scored brownie points with the FSB and its 1.1m business customers after announcing a freeze in overdraft rates for the next year. The FSB told the Mail on Sunday and the Financial Times that other banks should follow suit.

 

Banks continued to be in the spotlight through the week as both The Independent and City A.M quoted the FSB as calling for more banks to lend to small businesses and welcoming the Small Business Finance Scheme. The FSB was also in The Economist, about the Government putting pressure on banks to lend.

 

John Walker, FSB National Policy Chairman, also had a letter published in The Times explaining that the reason so many small businesses need to turn to banks for finance is because they are being paid late by big business who are using them as a form of credit.

 

John Wright talks shop

FSB National Chairman John Wright turned business big shot with a full page interview in The Times this week. He ensured that readers were well informed about the FSB; of small business concerns about banks; the unbridled power of big business and the survival of the high street, as well as his love of shopping locally.

 

Jingle hell

The FSB described the approaching festive season as the "mother of all Christmases" for small businesses this week in an article for the News of the World. The red-top explained FSB concerns over bank lending and shoppers abandoning their high streets.

 

Keep Trade Local

A group of sixth form students supported the Keep Trade Local campaign by putting their own photographs on show at Darlington Market, and successfully encouraging hundreds of people to sign the petition. Their work will now be put together into a calendar which will go to MPs and local authorities within the region, to raise awareness about the campaign.

 

Putting the Economy Back on Track

The FSB this week launched the fourth in a series of five reports detailing proposals on how to get the economy back on track. The latest, titled Crimes Against Business, found that on crimes cost small businesses on average £13,500 each, every year.

 

Glover review

FSB Trade and Industry Chairman Clive Davenport this week called for the Government to take on board recommendations made in an influential report – the Glover Review – to give small firms a fairer deal when bidding for public sector contracts.

 

Have a good weekend,

 

Sophie Kummer