Gordon Brown attempted to woo small businesses in his pre-Budget report yesterday, promising measures to address the financing gap, encourage innovation and cut red tape.
The chancellor pledged to reform, or remove, 147 regulations, extend capital allowances and audit thresholds, and set up a British fund for enterprise capital based on American small-business investment companies.
"Since 1997 Britain has created over 100,000 more businesses; there are 170,000 more self-employed," Mr Brown told MPs. "But more enterprising as we are, Britain still lags behind American rates of business creation and success."
Next spring the government will launch Enterprise Capital Funds, designed to bridge a financing gap for small businesses seeking capital in the Ј250,000 to Ј2m range. Loosely adopting a US model, the government will contribute up to two-thirds of the capital of funds established to target this segment.
