Small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. They’re the backbone of our high streets. That’s why I was so pleased that last year there was 5.7 million businesses across the country and why I was delighted to be backing small businesses in Staffordshire Moorlands on Small Business Saturday.
Since 2010 there have been almost 1.2 million new businesses nationally, 99 per cent of which are SMEs. Small businesses across the country give people the security of a weekly wage. There are so many fantastic small businesses employing people locally and serving our community and I was pleased to visit HCM printers recently to see my Christmas cards being printed and SO Marketing to hear about their expansion plans and the Christmas Toy collection they are doing for the Alice Charity.
So Marketing are looking for toys and gifts for children between 0 and 18 years for families who are on low incomes and don’t have much this Christmas.
They will be collecting the gifts at SO Marketing and will wrap and deliver the presents in December. If you would like to help by donating a toy or a gift, please drop it into 50 Broad Street in Leek.
I am proud of the Government’s record over the last eight years in their support for businesses and creating jobs. We are helping small businesses access the finance they need to grow and reach their potential, and the recent Budget provided a £900 million cut in business rates for almost 500,000 small businesses, while keeping three million small businesses out of VAT altogether by maintaining one of the highest VAT thresholds in the world.
But we can do more and we should do more. I’m determined to champion the needs of small business; support them in our community and represent them in Government.