Business

matters

LAST week I spoke in the debate on The National Insurance Contributions Bill. This paves the way for the increases in NI that will come in this April.

These changes are regrettable as NI is a tax on jobs and it comes at a time when we will be looking to private sector business growth to get us through the tough times ahead.

Labour did not oppose the bill as they recognise that these increases are unfortunately necessary for deficit reduction. The changes will raise £9 -billion and make a significant contribution to reducing a deficit running at £150-billion a year.

In the debate I urged the Government to make sure that as soon as we can afford to start reducing taxes this tax should be one of the first to be tackled.

On a more positive note secondary legislation will increase the tax threshold for employer's NI which will provide relief to businesses worth around £3-billion.

There was one piece of particularly good news in the Bill — an NI holiday of up to £5,000 per employee for the first ten employees recruited by new start-ups in various regions of the country including the South West. This will be a major incentive for new business generation.

New businesses will not automatically receive the NI holiday but must apply for it, and in the debate I pressed the Government to ensure that this scheme is very well promoted.

If you are thinking of starting up a new business locally please contact me. I will point you in the right direction and do whatever I can to help you. These tax incentives make it a good time to get started.

I will also continue to fight for all our small businesses in Westminster – we need them now more than ever.