This article first appeared in The Times newspaper here.
Before I became an MP, I worked for over a decade as a leader in retail stores across the north of England. I have seen first-hand the impact that high taxes can have not just on businesses themselves, but also on their staff, customers, and suppliers.We are still dealing with the financial impact of the pandemic and the profound economic shockwaves which the war in Ukraine has sent around the world. The only way to counter this immense challenge is through a low-tax, pro-growth economic environment based upon true-blue Conservative principles.
The success of our nation’s small businesses is key to the success of our nation’s economy. At a time when one-in-seven small businesses are deciding whether to shrink, shut, or sell up, the next prime minister will have the immediate challenge of delivering urgent measures which will determine the economic course which our country will take over the coming years.
I’m backing Liz Truss, the only candidate to have set out credible policies which will boost our small businesses, policies which have been overwhelmingly backed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). These include reversing employer’s national insurance hikes, reforming business rates, and providing additional support for the self-employed — a plan which the FSB have confirmed will save at least 50,000 vital jobs across the country.
Liz’s plans will provide small businesses with the financial headroom needed to relieve the immediate pressures they are facing, while setting them and the economy at large on course for sustained growth over the coming months and years.
Over the past few weeks as I’ve been out in my Southport constituency, the only Conservative seat in Merseyside which is a key target for both Labour and the Lib Dems, and I’ve been delighted by the number of constituents and small business owners who have approached me to say “make sure you’re backing Liz”.
The economies of Southport and the whole country rest upon the success of our small businesses, and under Liz they will thrive.