Brown makes enterprise key pre-Budget topic
Chancellor Gordon Brown is to make enterprise one of the key themes of his pre-Budget report following the release of new figures that show the rate of business start-up varies wildly across the country.
Link: Brown extends help to deprived areas
Speaking at the Inner City 100 awards today, Brown said that new measures to help tackle the challenges that businesses face, especially in disadvantaged areas, would be introduced in the forthcoming pre-Budget report.
The figures showed that 175,455 new businesses, measured by VAT registrations, started up across the UK in 2001, equivalent to 37 businesses for every 10,000 adults. The rates ranged from 20 new VAT registrations per 10,000 citizens in the North East to 44 per 10,000 citizens in the South East.
‘I want British young people to see businessmen and women once again as role models in their communities,’ said Brown. ‘I want teachers willing to extol the virtues of enterprise and a career in commerce. I want our poorest communities to see an expansion of enterprise as the best solution to unemployment and deprivation. And I want an end to no-go areas for the enterprise economy in any part of Britain. Today’s figures show new businesses were established in every district and in every region of our country, but that the rates at which they were set up varies dramatically both within regions and between them.’
‘That is why enterprise will be a central theme of our Pre Budget Report, with special incentives for enterprise in the poorest areas. We have already helped firms by cutting the cost of cleaning up contaminated land and will abolish stamp duty on commercial property transactions. Many of these areas will also be able to sweep aside business planning red tape.’