2010 Election – the Reaction of Company Formation Owners

This general election was arguably one of the most interesting we have seen in a number of years – as indicated by the fact that the number of people who voted has risen enormously. It also marked many new developments in UK politics – namely its increasingly ‘presidential’ style and introduction of televised debates – and again prompted the question of proportional representation. However, now the votes are and the electorate have opted for a hung parliament, we get the reaction of the UK’s small business owners.

Philip Harvard, the founder of the Forum of Small Business and Private Enterprise, comments; “All three political parties positioned the small business sector at the forefront of each of their election campaigns; David Cameron promised to make company formation easier, Nick Clegg promised to make doing business in the UK less bureaucratic and Gordon Brown pledged to listen more to what small businesses want. However, now the result of all theses campaigns is a hung parliament, many small business owners are concerned that none of the above promises will be kept.”

Susan Mores, founding partner of business consultancy, Mores & Partners, comments; “In my opinion, the election result will have a catastrophic impact on small businesses everywhere. History has shown us that all a hung parliament leads to is another general election. All three political parties will be concerned with trying to undermine each and gain a majority that they will be far too busy to get on with what they are paid to do – run the country.”
The fact is that until a coalition is firmly established, we won’t be able to fully understand what impact a hung parliament will have on the small business and company formation sector.  However, once it is let’s hope that our politicians aren’t held back by a history of adversarial politics and are able to concentrate on the job in hand; keeping the UK’s economy on the road to recovery.