On Monday, Curia joined with SME4Labour to host a fundraising event at Ronnie Scott’s, with Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Thangam Debbonaire MP, as well as Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Chi Onwurah MP. The evening included speeches from various speakers, each highlighting the importance of small businesses and the need for further support by a new government.
Labour’s Plan for SMEs
Debbonaire began her speech with an emphasis on supporting small businesses, and the challenges facing those businesses, particularly the creative industries. Referencing policy that the Labour party has announced since 2023, she mentioned:
- Legislating to tackle late payments: Government estimates £20 billion worth of unpaid invoices are overdue at any given time, causing Cashflow problems for SMEs in particular. Legislation to tackle this would include requiring audit committees of big businesses to report payment practices.
- Scrapping business rates: Also pushed by parties including the Liberal Democrats, the ‘pay before profit’ model of business rates is often attacked as being unfair and a barrier to SMEs starting in their ventures. Labour aim to scrap business rates and replace them with incentives for investment.
- Revolutionising apprenticeship and skills: By creating Technical Excellence Colleges to specialise in higher technical qualifications, and greater support for Local Skills Improvement Plans, alongside creating Skills England and transforming the Apprenticeship Levy to a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy, Labour hopes to address the skills shortages that are hampering SMEs from scaling up.
Combating Misinformation
Owen Meredith, from the voice of UK national, regional and local news and sponsor of the event, News Media Association (NMA), began his speech stressing the importance of journalistic integrity in combating misinformation and upholding the truth. With the onset of new technologies that might deceive and misinform populations, AI in particular, the importance of uncovering details and facts behind stories, and ensuring high standards of journalism is incredibly important, and is campaigned on by NMA and the 900 organisations it represents.
Meredith further highlighted the opportunities to collaborate with senior politicians including the Shadow Frontbench, to build consensus to support a free and sustainable press, legislating on online safety, digital markets and ensuring a balanced relationship with tech platforms, as well as how advertising budgets are shared with local publishers and SMEs here in the UK.
Chris Brumphet of Field Consulting, a communications consultancy, made a compelling case for why small business owners should support Labour. He cited the chaos of the past decade under Conservative governance, marked by erratic policy shifts and neglect of vital issues like business rates and infrastructure investment (‘Chaos has a Cost’). Brumphet articulated a desire for stability and evidence-based decision-making from a Labour government, underscoring the crucial role of economic growth in realising broader social goals.
What’s Next for Labour and Business?
Bringing speeches to a close (and opening the way for a positive evening of networking, Vice-Chair of SME4Labour, Mark Glover, stressed the importance of Labour reaching out to SMEs. Historically, Labour has often been portrayed as anti-business, but Glover was keen to highlight the changed party, with a changed relationship towards businesses.
As the General Election campaign continues to grow, pressure will mount on Labour to create and share decisive policy on various topics. Curia’s own Life Sciences Industrial Strategy for a new government Programme, which you can preorder here, will be building on the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy announced by Labour earlier this year.
Chamber UK regularly works with third parties to support events with senior politicians. Past events have included keynote speakers, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt MP, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP, and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan MP. If you or your business is interested in working with Curia to deliver a similar event, get in touch today at info@chamberuk.com.