Almost one in four SMEs do not feel any political party evokes business confidence, a recent survey of self-employed workers in the UK has revealed.
Furthermore, over a third of self-employed workers in the UK don’t think Brexit will ever happen. 27.6% think that Brexit will occur between February 2020 and December 2020, while only one in five think it will happen on 31 January 2020.
When asked what they’d like to see on the new government’s agenda, 41% said they’d like to see Brexit cancelled all together.
56% want the new government to cut taxes for small businesses, whilst 44.5% want the UK tax code simplified for small businesses
SMEs are politically divided between the left and right, as 30.9% of SMEs have the most confidence in Conservative Party, while 30.5% have the most business confidence in the Labour Party.
Only 8.6% have confidence in the Lib Dems and confidence in the Green Party is even lower at 6.8%.
Looking long term, 30.8% of UK SMEs would like to see investment in renewable energy to make the UK fully carbon-neutral as the top 2025 commitment by the new government, 21% want an overhaul of the UK education system to provide young people with better business skills.
Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent said, “Politics is never clear cut, but at this time in particular, with Brexit in the limelight, we are in a true era of uncertainty.
“The pensive attitude that reigns amongst small business owners has been clearly revealed by our findings that one in four feel of them feel no allegiance to any party.
“Beyond this, party confidence that does exist is split almost down the middle between Conservative and Labour, indicating that while both have desirable policies, neither are concrete enough to attract a significant percentage of small business owners.
“Looking more closely, Brexit itself is, unsurprisingly, at the heart of much of the uncertainty, with over a third of self-employed workers are unsure it will take place. Putting this into perspective, more people believe in alien life than small business owners believe Brexit will ever happen.
“For any government party to spearhead the change that small businesses need, the focus must shift to long-term goals that matter most to small businesses – renewable energy and, importantly, an overhaul of the UK education system to provide young people with better business skills.”
