The self-employed, micro-businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises employ more than 15 million people in the UK, most of whom have suffered to a greater or lesser extent during the past year of pandemic. The Tory government’s lack of help for small businesses and the self-employed can be contrasted with their massive support for big business – be it handing out lucrative contracts to their mates without public scrutiny or allowing them to pay little or no tax. Yet for too long the Tories have been allowed to get away with the pretence that they are the natural allies of small businesses. I support SME4Labour because this narrative is a myth and needs to be challenged. The SME sector is a key element of the UK economy, upon which depend the livelihoods of millions. It deserves more government support. And millions of self-employed people and small businesses would benefit from tighter regulation of big business profiteering and tax avoidance – and that should be the policy of a future Labour government.
Cllr Rosa Gomez
Labour Councillor for Churchfields Ward, Redbridge