This Saturday, local businesses throughout Llanelli will be marking Small Business Saturday.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, SMEs make up 99% of the business population in the UK and create 16 million jobs. Now in its tenth year, Small Business Saturday celebrates this success and encourages consumers to ‘shop local’ and to support businesses in their own communities.
Small businesses are facing many difficulties including a crashed economy, soaring energy costs and supply chain issues. The Tory Government’s Autumn Statement with its high tax, low growth agenda will leave even less money in people’s pockets making things even harder. They need our support not only to survive but to thrive.
Small businesses do much to enrich our lives and our communities, providing jobs, training and driving economic growth. For them to succeed, they need a UK Government that is pro-worker and pro-business and one that is a strong and effective partner, bringing stability and practical support. The current Tory chaos cannot provide that.
Only a change of government at a UK level can deliver the change that small businesses need.
Labour already has a plan that will help business owners looking to get on, both immediately and in the long-term.
Our industrial strategy will set out a long-term framework for business policy, ensuring certainty, stability and no unexpected changes. A UK Labour Government would keep energy bills down for good, with a credible strategy to increase the availability of cheap, clean, home-grown sources of power. Support for the self-employed is also part of the equation and a UK Labour Government will extend the protections for self-employed workers including the right to sick pay.
This weekend, I will be supporting local small businesses in my constituency at every opportunity. I hope that you will be able to too.