Now that the EU Referendum is over and the UK has voted to end it’s position as a Member State of the European Union, The Business Growth Foundation is calling for a SME Task Force to be quickly established. Ninder Johal Chair of The Business Growth Foundation says: “SMEs have recently been the forgotten voice of our economy. UK SMEs are 99% of all our businesses. They employ 15.6 million people. They are exceptionally important to the UK economy. But during the Referendum campaign the views of SMEs have rarely been covered in the media or discussed by politicians.
The campaign has been a period of anxiety for SMEs, many of whom have delayed or cancelled investment and growth plans due to their uncertainty about the outcome.
Now is the time to switch attention to SMEs to ensure they can smoothly and quickly transition away from uncertainty and get back on to a stability and growth agenda. To help to achieve this The Business Growth Foundation is calling for a SME Task Force to be established Chaired by a leading figure in the SME economy and including a Secretary of State along with senior representatives of business membership organisations.
Big corporations have the resources to deal with where we are today. SMEs are not in this position and need more outside help. The terms of reference of the Task Force will be to assess the implications for UK SMEs of the Referendum vote, including how to address our possible exit from the European Single Market. The Task Force will also fund measures that flow from its assessments, to assist SMEs to manage the post Referendum situation.
A major area of focus for the Task Force will be post Referendum access to finance to ensure SMEs get not just funding but high quality growth and investment advice when they want it and how they want it, so investment does not continue to stall. The SME Task Force will be a critical investment for the long term benefit of our economy. In these challenging times we cannot afford for SMEs to continue to be a forgotten voice.”
