Manchester Business survey
Tonight on PM our reporter Andrew Bomford has been talking to private businesses in Greater Manchester. A number of them, in a survey conducted for the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Ö÷²¥´óÐã, have expressed concern about government cutbacks and the effect that they are having on private business. The questions submitted by the PM programme can be seen - along with their answers - via this link (PDF). You can hear the response live on PM with the Business Secretary Vince Cable.
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Comment number 1.
At 21st Mar 2011, lucien desgai wrote:I wish Vince Cable had been pressed harder about deregulation. He's already announced plans to reduce (eliminate in some cases) employees rights to challenge abusive employers. What other regulations would he remove; safety at work ... environmental protections ... food safety .. the minimum wage?
Regulations exist for a reason, they're there to protect ordinary people against the excesses of the profit motive ... and it's clear which side Cable and the Tory government are on.
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Comment number 2.
At 21st Mar 2011, Big Sister wrote:I was struck by that thought, too, Lucien. I think Mr. Cable may have come over all evasive, though :(
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Comment number 3.
At 21st Mar 2011, Ellis P Otter wrote:I rather think that the Government has very little real idea how to support small business. I hope to be proved wrong on Wednesday. The results of the questionnaire were interesting but, to me, a turnover of more than one million per annum would suggest a medium sized business that I can only dream about for now. Thus the questionnaire was addressed to the wrong people.
I wonder how different and more damning the answers would be if focussed on those really small businesses that David Cameron so praised in his speech just a couple of weeks ago?
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Comment number 4.
At 25th Mar 2011, milothehorse wrote:Of these factors, Corporation Tax is my biggest concern. Actually tax in general is my biggest worry. The PSBR even for this government will continue to rise for its duration. We have to turn this back so that Public Sector costs are not 50 plus % of GDP but more like 33% of GDP. Unfortunately with over 50% of GDP being spent in the public sector, changing this is going to be impossible - turkeys voting for Christmas. I think this Government is doing too little to turn the tide. Cuts - bring them on, but put some Business Leaders in place to manage them, not Senior Civil Servants.
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Comment number 5.
At 26th Mar 2011, lucien desgai wrote:Exactly, milothehorse. Representative democracy and the public good are so terribly inefficient. Let's just hand it all to the private healthcare industry, Serco and Goldman Sachs. They're the ones who really know what's best for themselves and it would certainly help to keep labour costs down ... what could be better than that?
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