Businesses and the Regions

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk), who was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting last night in Committee Room 10, which was organised by the Industry and Parliament Trust. Parliamentarians had a good discussion with representatives, owners and managers of and professional advisers to small businesses throughout the country. The event was very useful and showed that the small business sector is in a healthy position, representing as it does 99 per cent. by number of the enterprises in this country—about half our enterprise employment and more than one third of the total earnings of the sector. People said last night that they felt they were entering this difficult time in a much better position than in 1990, when they were net borrowers. Now they are net depositors. Now they feel better managed and are more flexible and ready to respond to the situation. Partly as a result of last night, I want to dwell on two things. One is the big picture of British enterprise in a global economy. The other is the more immediate issue of access to funds, especially when credit and funding have all but dried up. I want to start with British business's global position by saying. ““Let's hear it for the entrepreneurial spirit in this country. Let's hear it for the businesses and entrepreneurs who battle and who, with the right support, can carry the world with them, however global the markets in which they operate are.”” The people attending last night's event were up for the struggle ahead and for seeing our way through to calmer waters, when the current difficulties will be over. We ought to respect the position of people who are willing to put their all into making this country a great place to do business and a great success in world markets. As policymakers and those who make decisions that affect their world, what do we need to do to make them competitive in a global economy? For us, this means being globally competitive in the areas that affect businesses, including regulation, taxation levels and, in better times, access to funding. This country ought to be well placed in respect of those factors. The Hampton review set us on the road towards world-class, risk-based, proportionate regulation. I might offer a word of caution, however, in that, as a result of what has happened to the banks and financial institutions recently, the appetite for deregulation and light-touch regulation has changed. It will be a challenge for us, as law makers and rule makers, when we come out on the other side of the present crisis, to resist the calls for heavier regulation, and to stay true to the Hampton review agenda of risk-based, proportionate regulation. Of course, the definition of ““proportionate”” might be different after the experiences that we are all feeling so keenly and deeply at this time. I should like to make a further point about regulation, although it admittedly relates more to the time when we come out of the present difficulty than to the present circumstances. Since 1994, we in this place have tried three times to set up a legislative fast track for getting rid of regulations that we accept are more burdensome than beneficial to British businesses. The first two attempts were well intentioned, but resulted in hardly any noticeable change. Last year, we made a further attempt, and we now have a Regulatory Reform Committee. The challenge for us, and for the business representatives and businesses that I mentioned earlier, is to work out a programme for sweeping away the regulations that we agree are too burdensome and provide too little benefit. We need to make use of the system that we in this House and the other place have established for fast-tracking the removal of those regulations from our system.