Labour can become the party of enterprise if it adopts eye-catching new ideas to support small business, say Luke Bozier and Alex Smith
Enterprise is not just good for the economy; it is good for society. Small- and medium-sized businesses employ 14 million people in the UK. They are the foundation of strong and vibrant communities. They contribute to our regional and local identity, creating livelihoods and giving people control over their economic futures – objectives at the very core of what it means to be Labour. As our economy changes, the party must do more to support those small businesses, sole traders and young people entering a challenging market.
First, it is vital that we nurture curiosity about entrepreneurship in the early years and furnish young people with the skills to succeed. As well as improved enterprise education in the national curriculum, we should build a National Young Enterprise Programme. The existing Young Enterprise scheme is too often seen as a ‘nice-to-have’, but is not rooted in schools as a recognised part of the educational path. Instead, we should build on that successful scheme, and establish a national programme as a third available route alongside A-levels and apprenticeships, run by local authorities and local businesses. This would serve as a two-year mini-MBA for 16-18-year-olds, combining mentoring, team-building and management training with direct business and accounting experience and access to experimental start-up finance. It would unleash into our economy hundreds of youngsters each year who understand the technicalities of starting and running a business, and have had the opportunity to experiment with business ideas.
Second, we recommend giving small businesses – and the social enterprise movement in particular – the support they need at the start-up phase. Britain has experienced a boom in social non-profit and for-profit organisations in the last decade. Much of that is Labour’s legacy. Now Ed Miliband should commit to helping socially motivated businesses and not-for-profits to better attract government procurement contracts and to grow. Labour should commit to doubling the endowment funds available through organisations such as UnLtd, a charity which supports social entrepreneurs, and whose award-winners each create an average of four jobs and 14 training opportunities.
Third, it is important that the tax system is streamlined and regulation made more consistent. Currently, the system is complex and daunting for first-time entrepreneurs to navigate. Therefore, Labour should, alongside the Office of Tax Simplification, consult with small businesses to find ways to reduce prohibitive complications in the tax code, and roll out a national scheme providing local pro bono accounting support for new entrepreneurs. In addition, small businesses should have a single contact at HMRC. That will require a new approach to taxation, but it is one that could make creating a new business simpler for people, and develop hundreds of new, locally networked businesses across Britain.
Unless we can find solutions to the challenges faced by those 14 million people working in small business, Labour will struggle at the next general election. Fully embracing enterprise, and understanding that business can and must be at the heart everything we do as a party – from our policy to our politics to our party organisation – will go some way to ensuring Labour can compete in 2015.
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Luke Bozier and Alex Smith are editors of the new pamphlet Labour’s Business
“ere mate” “wot” “you goin on strike”? “nah mate” “wyssat then”? “cos like them Tories right , they don’t want no private sector jobs at all , gonna phase em all out ! privatise EVERYFINK, so I can ‘ave a rest then carn I ” !
Talk about stating the obvious. Plenty of generalisations but until you take care of what and how ‘enterprise’ it is utilised in schools you are pissing in the wind.Most people assume they do a version of ‘Junior Apprentice’ and the rest takes care of itself. You do know that even New Labour allowed all Academies to disengage from the National Curiculum therefore you will have to impose the NC from the centre. A very statist approach don’t you think? Also, the students selected for these courses tend to be ‘vocational’ students who are non-academic. Which suggests that this type of course is simple enough to get the pass rate up. I t won’t be a challenge and it falls down on that point alone.
Until you solve that issue this proposal will flounder. It might be more valid to look at a national apprenticeship scheme for post-16 students.
Alex,
Hope you are well, apologies for becoming Independent, but time will show I made the right move (I will not be standing against Labour as an Independent because this is not about me) its about corruption and the fact I will not be complicit with social destruction and the indirect promotion of the Far Right as a consequence.
As Independent I am considering aiding the Tories at the next General Election (I have to pick an Mp to wipe out 😉 – one who thinks he or she is safe, its a democracy thing).
Labour isn’t winning anyone over at the moment and the re-flopping was unbelievable and has done nothing to build trust and i have not seen improvements in the conduct of those holding positions in the Party on the Council as a result including any commitment to build memberships and involve people (they are paranoid about facing challenges for their positions) so it’s failed before it ever took off and thats a shame for you all.
On business this too shallow and I think you need to have clearer view of the experience of people in SME’s during the Battle of Barking i was helping a company In East Ham we started with an empty room that the rent had been paid for (there is a shortage of office space in East ham) we literally built it up from nothing. With all the stress of the Labour Party (Flint and Purnell resigning during the elections etc) setting up a company was a peaceful picnic when compared with the consequences of being beaten by the BNP in their safest seat as you will recall with my comments on your blog lol.
Alex just forget it for the moment because as long as people do not trust you nobody will believe you can promote competition in the market and that means the most basically important element of economics cannot be satisfied and on a more pragmatic level businesses will not trust you and they will go Tory.
Many business people voted Labour in 1997 and they will not do so now, they did so even when it meant it was not in their direct business interests, they did so because they saw what was happening in society itself.
You cannot sell that to them again at the moment and believe me having met the Council old guard on Barking and Dagenham I am with them 100%.
Until you learn how to discipline correctly and fairly the worst of your Council Leaders and a minority of Councillors, never mind MPs you are lost.
As for me I am meeting residents community groups across the borough and trying desperately to stop them from voting BNP as democracy has left the Council Chamber as well as Parliament and is back on the streets.
They may well be singing my praises in the local newspaper but at the end of the day I am failing.
The lessons from Barking should have been adopted, there is nothing to be proud of leaving Nick Griffin as an MEP, having UKIP come second in the Euro-elections and losing Scotland.
There is no proud record to rely on when the most elemental and simplistic parts of our democracy are weakened. It does not matter what money you gave to whom, to messed up on the most basic stuff that people should take for granted as a given and Ed Milliband has already failed as would his equally shallow and dodgy brother, because the advice would been the same.
At the moment nobody needs Labour for anything you have no role as MPs seem to think they in some kind of administrative office job and do not understand what politics is.
It’s hardly enlightened and the public are right to condemn these self-aspirational fools.
But here we are again, same argument, same debate and very little if any Progress……..
yeah yeah meant public sector jobs!….gettin’ ahead of meself there!