TALKING POLITICS
A new political landscape - What will business look like now ?
By Fiona Scott , Features Editor
The General Election changed the political landscape of the UK dramatically . Our country swung to the left as the Labour Party was swept to power . Wiltshire was impacted by that political change both in terms of boundary changes to constituencies and the individuals elected and those who left the ‘ room ’.
Today our county has gone from being very ‘ blue ’ to being far more coloured with three Conservative MPs ( who all held their seats ), three Liberal Democrat MPs and two Labour MPs . If you didn ’ t know here is how our county currently looks when it comes to national political representation :
1 . Andrew Murrison MP Conservative , South West Wiltshire
2 . Heidi Alexander MP Labour , Swindon South
3 . John Glen MP Conservative , Salisbury
4 . Danny Kruger Conservative , Devizes
5 . Will Stone MP Labour , Swindon North
6 . Sarah Gibson MP Liberal Democrat , Chippenham
7 . Dr Brian Mathew Liberal Democrat , Melksham & Devizes
8 . Roz Savage MP Liberal Democrat , South Cotswolds
Regardless of personal political affiliation , we are all , as business owners , employers or employees facing the consequences , for good or otherwise , of this change . In the King ’ s Speech , a whole raft of legislation was brought forward , much of which will have implications for business including :
• Planning & Infrastructure Bill
• Employment Rights Bill
• Great British Energy Bill
• Renters ’ Rights Bill
Yet what will this mean for business ? The quarterly Business West Economic Survey for Q2 came out only a few short weeks ago and it took the temperature of business across our region . However it ’ s important to note that the survey was conducted before the General Election took place .
Its main findings were that business confidence fell significantly between Q1 and Q2 this year – from 52 per cent of respondents feeling confident to 39 per cent . One of the big stresses for businesses is still recruitment with 69 per cent having problems recruiting the right people within their businesses .
On the plus side , 46 per cent of those who took part were expecting their profitability to improve in the coming weeks and months . The main business concerns were around general economic conditions and uncertainty . Other worries included inflation , competition , interest rates and taxes . It remains to be seen if any of this improves during Q3 when the new political situation begins to bed in .
Laura Dent runs Swindon-based commercial cleaning business So Fresh & So Clean . The business is growing and working with many commercial clients in Wiltshire and in Bristol yet some days it ’ s very tough going . She said , “ I would like to see the new government working with business owners when it comes to policy and employment law changes , and truly recognise the impact their actions have .
“ I want to provide a healthy well-paid workplace , this has been inherently difficult even before the pandemic and the cost of living crisis . Every single product and service is bought from a business and a business pays everyone ’ s wages which keeps our economy flowing .
“ Yet there is a toxic culture that all business owners are the same as shareholders , making lots of money off the back of others and this couldn ’ t be further from the truth .
“ I fear we will continue to see the unfair treatment of SMEs . As a business owner I feel like I ’ m treated as a criminal and my main duty is to be a tax collector . My brother has a company in another country and the support their government provides them is worlds apart from what we have here in the UK , I am tempted now more than ever to follow in his footsteps …”
Fiona da Silva Adams is owner of Revolution Performing Arts based out of Wanbrough . She ’ s concerned about some of the changes . She said , “ I fear raising taxes for small businesses and hope that the assumption that corporation tax is only paid by big business is dispelled . It hits small business hard on top of PAYE , income tax and VAT . I understand we need to raise revenue to combat the high level of social care but there needs to be parity between large and small businesses .”
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