Small businesses need to have their voices heard

On April 16 the Warwick & Leamington branch of the FSB will be holding a hustings event for the benefit of small business owners in the parliamentary constituency.

All Parliamentary constituency candidates are expected to attend and all those who are currently declared have agreed to participate.

The BBC “Question Time” style event will consist of introductory statements and a question and answer session. We’ll then finish with a buffet and networking.

In the Warwick & Leamington branch area there are 450 FSB members representing almost as many local businesses. As well as the health of their own businesses, members have the interests of the local economy and business environment generally at heart, and can be expected to have a wide range of topics on which they want the views of the candidates or the opportunity to make their own views known with the prospect of influencing the actions of our future MP.

The May 7 General Election presents an opportunity for a new Government to set out its credentials to help our start-ups and small firms realise their ambitions.

The FSB wishes to see political leadership focus on the pressing issues that small businesses face right now. We have therefore produced the FSB ‘Be the voice of small businesses’ manifesto, which is being given to political candidates across the country. This sets out what we’d like to see from the next Government including delivery of a sustained economic recovery, the creation of high-quality jobs and full employment, and the costs of doing business lowered.

Ninety nine per cent of the 4.9 million businesses in the UK are small and micro businesses so we need to have our voices heard. The full manifesto can be downloaded from the FSB website.

If you’d like to attend the hustings event you will need to book at http://goo.gl/XxJjXM