GovWire

Im incredibly proud that we have five and a half million small businesses in this country.

And your contribution is enormous in jobs, growth, innovation.

But this isnt just a number.

Its five and a half million stories of sacrifice, hard work, and hope

that by taking a risk to build your own business

you can build a better future for yourself and your family.

Stories like those of Roni Savage, who I just met earlier this morning.

and runs the engineering firm Jomas Associates.

Or Bradburys Cheese in Buxton, 140 years old this year and still as committed and knowledgeable as ever.

Now, I grew up in a small business.

When I wasnt at school, Id work in Mums pharmacy

serving customers, doing the bookkeeping, cleaning the shop.

Our pharmacy shaped my beliefs about the economy.

That pharmacy was ours; we owned it; we had a stake in its success.

If we worked hard and took pride in our work and provided a good service, business would improve.

If we didnt, it wouldnt.

And thats how it should be thats the promise of entrepreneurship.

Now I know that promise has come under strain.

Covid, war in Ukraine, inflation, all caused major disruption, and drove up the cost of doing business.

I know things are still tough, but our plan is starting to work.

Inflation more than halved and falling fast.

Growth higher than anyone expected.

Debt on track to fall.

But theres more we need to do to restore that promise of entrepreneurship.

So, let me share three big steps were taking to help small business.

First, were cutting your taxes.

Your money is far better spent by you, than by government.

So weve increased the VAT threshold to 90,000, for the first time since 2017.

Taken a third out of paying any business rates whatsoever.

And introduced a relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses.

that means a small business in England will pay far less in business rates

than you would in Wales or in Scotland.

And were cutting National Insurance.

Because we want to end the unfairness that you pay in tax twice,

On income from work, but income from other sources is only taxed once.

Thats why our long-term ambition is to simplify the system

and end the double tax on work, by abolishing NICs.

Now, weve already made good progress. For the self employed weve abolished class 2 NICS.

and cut your main rate by a third, saving a typical self-employed person 650 a year.

And weve cut NICs for 29 million workers by around 900.

Thats a 20bn tax cut for the British people.

But were not done yet.

Well make more progress towards abolition, in the next Parliament.

Our second step to help small business is to cut red tape.

Since leaving the EU, weve revoked or reformed more than 2,000 EU laws

with 500 more coming this year

delivering more than 1bn of savings for businesses and customers.

Today, I can go further.

Were announcing a new simplification package

expected to save small businesses around 150m a year.

Take the rules that define who can qualify as a small business.

It really matters, because if you dont qualify

youre suddenly hit with a whole load of extra paperwork.

But now we get to decide these definitions not the EU.

So were changing the rules to ensure that far fewer businesses are hit by these burdens.

Were also tackling late payments

with strict new rules that mean any company bidding for large government contracts

must show that they pay their own invoices within 45 days.

And were also making it easier for you to hire apprentices.

apprenticeships benefit young people and the businesses who hire them.

But for SMEs, the system can be expensive and confusing, despite huge progress.

So, to ensure funding is available where there is demand for apprenticeships

were increasing the apprenticeships budget by 40m.

And for small businesses hiring young apprentices

we will now fund the cost of their training in full.

This will cut costs for business and training providers.

And support thousands more young people to start an apprenticeship.

As well as cutting taxes and red tape, our third step is to make it easier to get the finance you need

to start, grow, or invest in your business.

For early-stage businesses, weve already made the tax reliefs on investment, far more generous.

And weve deployed hundreds of millions to the Regional Angels programme

For larger companies, weve committed 1.6bn into Growth Funds in every region of the country

including 400m right here in the Midlands

as well as the 1bn Start Up Loans scheme, which has helped over 100,000 businesses

like Castore, started by two brothers in their parents kitchen on the Wirral

and now a multimillion-pound sportswear company.

This is all about the government directly funding exciting, high growth businesses right across the country.

And I genuinely believe its one of the most generous sets of schemes anywhere in the world.

So get onGov.UKand see if you can benefit.

But, I recognise theres been a gap.

Female founders receive just 2% of UK equity investment.

That figure hasnt budged in a decade.

So to change that, were announcing a new Invest in Women Taskforce.

Led by Hannah Bernard from Barclays

and serial entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow

its going to raise a female-focused investment fund to address that gap directly.

Were going to make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder.

So, lower taxes; less admin; better access to finance

thats how were backing our small businesses.

Because in the end, the economy is not some abstract thing.

Its about you the five and a half million risk takers, growth makers, job creators.

Our role is to create the conditions for you to thrive.

To make sure that hard work and aspiration is rewarded.

And to restore that promise of entrepreneurship.

Were not there yet.

But were absolutely moving in the right direction.

So lets stick to the plan and build a better, brighter future together.

Thank you.