Party Business in Manchester
Article published: Friday, December 4th 2009
On Tuesday 1 December members of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce got another chance to schmooze the government-in-waiting. Shadow Minister for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, John Penrose, was in the city to discuss the Conservative Party’s plans to “cut red tape”. A match made in heaven. But are the Tories business-friendly enough?
The local business community have been very keen lately to get to know the Tories, as was obvious when the Opposition held their annual party conference here back in October. Manchester seemed a strange choice. The Conservatives aren’t exactly that in touch with life in one of the UK’s poorest cities – ‘urban war’ in Moss Side anyone? Then again, what political party is?
Still, the Chamber has been lapping up the attention. As Deputy Chief Executive and Policy Director, Chris Fletcher, put it: “It was a great opportunity for Chamber members to meet with the minister and make their views known.”
The Shadow Minister was to be quizzed on “how the regulatory burden for business could be reduced”. ‘Red tape’ was the order of the day then, that perennial bogeyman of Conservatives everywhere. Nobody likes waste after all. So Mr Penrose asked the inevitable question: “Wouldn’t it be better to rebound from recession without all that dead weight dragging us down?”
It fits together with the next government’s slash-and-burn approach to the economy, ready to be set in motion after the 2010 election. Public service cuts, easyCouncils and welfare reforms all conform to the age-old Tory policy of giving free reign to the private sector, or at least after we’ve given the banks all our money to pay for their crisis. That was necessary. And of course the military – that needs more public money too.
The Tories’ plans for business and the economy are already pretty much in sync with proposals made by the Chamber. On the ‘Conservative Business Relations’ website, “a forum for allowing leaders of the business community to engage with the Conservative Party and discuss policy issues”, they state their own position clearly:
“Our goal is simple: to make Britain the easiest and best place in the world to set up and grow a business.
“Under Labour, business has become increasingly burdened by corporate taxes, red tape and the lack of enterprise leadership in government.”
“Reducing the burden of regulation to give businesses more freedom and greater flexibility” is crucial for this. The phrase might as well have been pulled straight out of the Chamber’s ‘Action for Business’ or more recent ‘Business Manifesto’.
Mr Penrose laid out his plans for reducing red tape, one of his pet hates it seems, which included government departments being required to cut costs at least equal to new legislation, something he would like to “apply to every quango in the country”.
That may seem sensible enough. He went on to suggest that every year groups like the Chambers of Commerce would be asked to propose the ten least effective business laws, to see if they could be reformed. It sounds a little like asking the powerful business lobby how the law could be changed to make them more money.
And the reaction from the Chamber and its members?
“Much of what was proposed makes sense, and seemed to be welcomed by local businesses. However, the key will be whether the Conservatives can make these proposals a reality if they come into power,” said Chris Fletcher.
The big worry for many in Manchester is that that’s exactly what they’ll do.
Andy Lockhart
More: Manchester, Opinion
Comments
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The ‘Business Manifesto’? Is that what the Tories are putting forward for the general election!
Comment by Free Movement for All on December 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm
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