Anne Main tells politicians to "wake up" to the red tape burden for small businesses

Anne Main, Member of Parliament for St Albans, has called on politicians to "wake up" to the burden of regulation on small businesses.

Anne Main, Member of Parliament for St Albans, has called on politicians to "wake up" to the burden of regulation on small businesses.

Speaking in an Opposition Day debate on the performance of the Department of Trade and Industry, Anne outlined problems small businesses in Hertfordshire often face.

Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce estimates that the burden of regulation has cost £431 million since 1998. Sally Low, Director of Policy and External Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce said recently that "red tape and regulation are costing businesses in Hertfordshire a phenomenal amount of money".

Upon leaving the chamber, Anne said:

"In St Albans, small businesses struggle under the pressures of high rents and complex bureaucracy, making their lives very difficult. We have seen the loss of many small businesses locally and over the years and red tape and mounds of form filling have been cited as part of the problem.

As the Chamber of Commerce points out, the Government must wake up and listen to the voice of small business, or else we risk losing the diversity of our high street and opportunities for budding entrepreneurs. We must act positively to ensure that we have a vibrant and dynamic business economy"

In his concluding remarks, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry responded to Anne's argument, saying:

"I listened very carefully to what the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main) said about the difficulties faced by small businesses. We do not understate those difficulties, and we need to cut unnecessary regulation. There are now 600,000 more small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK than there were 10 years ago, so something is going right, and I hope that that includes the estate of Verulamium as well as the rest of the United Kingdom. The work of the Small Business Service and its delivery partner, Business Link, is very important.""