Issue 3 for June 2017 (issued June 6)
FSB shares election manifesto with candidates
The FSB has been busy over the past few weeks making sure the voice of our members is heard by all the candidates fighting to win seats at this week’s General Election. We have now sent copies of our FSB manifesto (which you can read in full along with a short video here) to over 70 of the candidates standing in our 17 Gloucestershire and West of England constituencies to ensure the policies supported by our members are well known by all those wishing to represent them.
Local FSB members say rising business tax is biggest fear
Small businesses across the South West have flagged rising taxation as their biggest concern for the coming Parliament in our latest research. Six in ten small firms in the region identify increased taxation on small businesses and the self-employed as a concern for the coming five years. Other major issues highlighted are rising business costs (48%), the burden of regulation (39%) and business rates (27%). In addition, businesses in this region want to see the new Government deliver a Brexit deal that works for small firms (59%), lower the costs of doing business (55%) and invest in infrastructure (37%). One in three small firms in the region also say investment in skills should be a priority for the next administration.
FSB sponsors Young Enterprise South West final
The FSB locally and nationally are keen supporters of the Young Enterprise programme as we believe it offers an ideal pathway to youngsters keen to learn all about launching and working in their own businesses. Many of our members and activists act as mentors to the school-age youngsters involved in the programme and we are delighted that this year we are also sponsoring and helping to judge the South West finals of the Young Enterprise competition which take place at Renishaw Innovation Centre in Wotton-on-the-Edge on Wednesday, June 14.
Procurement high on agenda for our small business owners
As an organisation we work hard to help our members find out about the opportunities they have to supply goods and services to larger businesses and the public sector as our evidence shows that the amount of money that stays in the community is vastly increased when work is offered to local small business suppliers. As such we encourage our members to learn more about the Social Value Act and attend’ meet the buyer’ events and we will also be actively encouraging them to attend the annual ‘Supplying the Public Sector’ conference run by the four West of England councils which takes place on Tuesday, July 4, at the University of the West of England.
FSB shows support at three major business shows
The FSB is always keen to show its support for major local business shows and during May we took stands and got involved with three of the biggest events of the year: the South Glos Expo, the Gloucestershire Business Show and the Bristol-based South West Showcase. We will also be actively supporting the Growing Gloucestershire event taking place later in June.
Thank you for reading….
Sam Holliday FSB Development Manager Gloucestershire & West of England
M 07917 628915
@FSBGlosandWoE www.fsb.org.uk
We send out this short ‘Brief’ every month but in the meantime if you wish to find out what is happening with FSB locally please see our weekly email newsletter, Bitesize, which is available online on a Thursday here. This page also includes a calendar of our future local events throughout Gloucestershire, Bath, Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and South Gloucestershire. You can also follow us on Twitter at @FSBGlosandWoE and see what our national policy team is working on by following their feed which is @FSB_Policy.
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