Wendy Morton

Last Friday, I welcomed representatives from more than 40 local businesses to my business breakfast. The businesses were of different sizes and from different sectors, but they had the same clear message: the cost of doing business is too high. These are hard-working people. They want to be able to get on, do business, expand and invest in their staff, yet at every turn this Government make it harder. Six in 10 small businesses feel that the Government are not on their side, according to a recent opinion poll. Higher employer national insurance contributions, increases in the minimum wage and soaring energy bills are squeezing margins, and we can add to that the mounting regulation and burdensome employment law introduced by this Government. Business confidence has been negative for seven consecutive months. Businesses needed a Budget that gave them confidence; instead, they were thrown a damp squib. Perhaps we should not be surprised. This weekend, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, whom I respect, told us that she did not think that employers were working people. I invite her to Aldridge-Brownhills so that she can tell that to the people running our hair salons, restaurants, garages and delivery companies. Those are the people who are the first up in the morning to open up their business, leave last and often pay themselves last, after everyone else. That is the harsh reality. They do not stop being working people the moment that they give somebody else a job. That remark tells us exactly how little this Government understand the people who create jobs in our communities.