Created in Britain

This week’s budget is a disappointment for small businesses, particularly in the creative services industry. Yes, George Osborne has given businesses a rate relief for another year and he has launched ‘enterprise zones’ but these all feel like initiatives that won’t have any real impact and helping smaller and medium sized businesses play a real part in Britain’s economic recovery.  
  
I would have liked to have seen more pressure on the banks to open up lending so more entrepreneurial business can thrive. It’s what I would have expected from a Conservative government. Like it or not ensuring there is enough money and funding to oil the cogs of businesses machine is the single biggest issue for entrepreneurs.   
  
Likewise, nothing in this budget shows any real intent to get consumers back on the high street spending. Yes, we have a large deficit and it needs correcting, but there is surely a leaf to be taken out of the US’s book where they have made spending cuts, but are doing it gradually and they are encouraging the consumer to spend. 
  
I love the rally call “We want the words ‘made in Britain, created in Britain, designed in Britain, invented in Britain’ to drive our nation forward”. The UK has an amazing creative industry including bags of marketing talent but this call needs to translate into action. If the government wants business to help lift the country out of debt and recession, it must put in place measures to support individual businesses and industries on the whole.