Co-operatives Bill to help build a fairer economy

The Prime Minister has announced plans to introduce a Co-operatives Bill that will cut red tape and help to build a fairer economy.

Legislation governing co-operatives and mutuals into a single statute will be put before parliament before the next election.

The Co-operatives Bill will help employees take a greater stake in their companies. Mr Cameron said they were key to "popular capitalism" and for "everyone to share in the success of the market".

The Prime Minister also said he wanted to encourage firms to show social responsibility and that the Chancellor was considering new tax rules to prevent abuse.

David Cameron said: "We know that breaking monopolies, encouraging choice, opening up new forms of enterprise is not just right for business but the best way of improving public services too.

"There are over 12 million co-op members in the UK. That's more people than there are shareholders in the economy.

"But right now there are too many barriers in the way... so today I can announce they will all be brought together and simplified in a new Co-Operatives Bill that will be put before parliament."

Welcoming the announcement, Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, added: "The new act is intended to make it as easy and natural to form a co-operative as any other form of business. We are delighted to see the Coalition taking action to put co-operative businesses on an equal footing and create a diverse economy.

"Co-operatives, as well as being widely recognised for their ethical business practices, are a vital part of the British economy, employing more than 235,000 people, turning over more than £33 billion each year and generating a significant amount of wealth for the country."

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Business boosting measures announced

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a series of measures to tackle the compensation culture and free small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the stranglehold of health and safety red tape.

Speaking to an audience of small businesses and entrepreneurs at Intuit UK in Maidenhead, David Cameron announced that:

• to tackle the compensation culture and address the fear from businesses of being sued for trivial or excessive claims - we will extend the current scheme that caps the amount that lawyers can earn from small value personal injury claims, and reduce overall costs in cases funded by 'no win no fee' deals. This will help bring down the cost of many cases and deter the speculative health and safety claims made against good businesses that would appear not to have done anything wrong.
• the health and safety law on strict liability for civil claims will be changed so that businesses are no longer automatically at fault if something goes wrong.
• we will investigate the demands made by insurance companies on businesses to ensure that levels of compliance do not force businesses to go far beyond what is actually required by the the law to secure their insurance cover.
• we will write to the Chief Executives of all major insurance companies, asking them to set out what they will do to deal with this problem - and they will be invited to a meeting at Downing Street next month to set out their plans.

The Prime Minister has also announced that next month we will ask organisations to bid to manage the £1bn of Government funding available through the Business Finance Partnership. This fund will help businesses access the finance they need to grow. 

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Building a stronger, more balanced economy

Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered his 2011 Autumn Statement to Parliament.

Responding to the Office of Budget Responsibility's updated Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Chancellor has set out details of further action the Government will take to protect the UK from global instability and the euro area crisis and build a stronger, more balanced economy for the future.

The Chancellor announced permanent reductions in spending to ensure that the UK meets its fiscal targets, using some of those savings in the short term to fund infrastructure investment to generate long-term growth.

Alongside this, he announced measures to help households and businesses cope with higher inflation and to ensure that deficit reduction is implemented fairly.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said:

"We are committed to making Britain the best place to start, finance and grow a business.

"The measures I am announcing today will help us to achieve this by creating an environment in which businesses are easy to set up, have access to credit when they need it and are able to grow without being held back by red tape.

"This action supports our deficit reduction plan and the Government's monetary activism as we build a balanced economy."

The full Autumn Statement 2011 can be read here.

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George Eustice MP- Breathing new life into our town centres

Last year, I organised a conference to explore how we can revitalise and give a new sense of purpose to our towns and I recently attended a meeting in parliament of a group of like minded MPs who are all aiming to deliver the same results in their own areas. We had all come to discuss the challenge with Mary Portas who was appointed by the government to come up with some new thinking to meet the challenge of town centre renewal.

There is a lot of exciting new work going on in West Cornwall. Hayle has had a long wait but might, at long last, be about to see a major restoration of the harbour area complete with new restaurants and a cinema. Camborne has been boosted by the arrival of Wetherspoons in the centre of town and a few weeks ago I met the Chinese owner of the Redruth Brewery site to see how we can kick start some activity there because it must be Redruth's turn next. I would like to see the Cornish Records Office moved from Truro to Redruth where it belongs because it could be the catalyst for a new retail offering based on Cornwall's heritage and culture.

The inexorable growth of out-of-town supermarkets has taken people away from our towns so, in future, let's put them in the centre where they bring life in rather than outside where they drain life away. Secondly, high business rates have driven some small retailers out of business so let's make it easier for new shops to open by giving them soft rates for the first year to get on their feet and let's help struggling retailers by giving them discounts from their existing business rates.

Thirdly, we should not duck the fact that free car parking is a factor that can encourage people back into town. If you are going to Camborne to buy a pasty or get some photos developed, the high cost of car parking is enough to put you off. So I think we need to look at ways of funding free car parking for the first hour. It has worked well in other towns elsewhere in the country and where there is a will, there is a way. Finally, we need to do more to attract destination retailers to our towns which would raise the tide for all the other shops too. There is often a lack of suitable retail space but you only need one or two brand names to create some momentum.

The government has made a lot of these ideas possible because it is allowing Councils to keep all the rates on new commercial premises so the income retained from new industrial units at Pool and Treleigh could be ploughed back into schemes to kick start our town centres. But we need a plan to make it happen.

George Eustice MP
Camborne & Redruth

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Simon Hart MP: Economic Growth in Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire

Small and medium sized businesses are the lifeblood of my rural constituency of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire – we do have some major energy-based industries but the biggest employers are often connected to farming and tourism SMEs.

There are three main issues faced by businesses in my constituency which the UK Government knows it must tackle.

Firstly poor mobile coverage and broadband speeds hold back innovation and communication. I have found it easier to make mobile calls from the Falklands Islands and Norwegian fjords than from my constituency office in Carmarthenshire. The poor communications network is just one reason why small and medium-sized businesses are struggling to improve and compete. The Government is now making up for lost time on this crucial issue and Jeremy Hunt recently announced £59.6 million in funding to make sure that the benefits of superfast broadband are available to everyone, especially those in rural areas.

Bureaucratic hurdles, particular in planning, are a second barrier to growth in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. One pub in a local seaside town has been served a noise abatement order by the county council because of a noisy kitchen fan – but the National Park's planning committee has refused to allow them to make the alterations needed to quieten it. This makes the case strongly for sensible changes in the planning system, currently being put forward by the UK Government, that will remove barriers to growth whilst taking into account the concerns of local residents.

Thirdly I believe that misguided education policies have played their part in holding my constituency back. I have had companies coming to me tearing their hair out because they want to employ youngsters but their qualifications are simply not up to scrutiny. As one local employer said to me "qualifications in golf course management or media studies simply does prepare students for the real world or a job in my manufacturing company." The Government have listened to these concerns and in the first 100 days passed the Academies Act allowing under-performing schools to be taken over and turned round without delay. Michael Gove has also announced the end of bogus university courses and is placing a strong emphasis on traditional subjects once again. The Welsh Assembly Government must follow suit.

Companies in my constituency are showing that they are tenacious, ingenious and determined in these difficult economic conditions. For example Mustang Marine recently won a £3.8 million contact with the Port of Mombasa, and there are others taking on staff and booking orders. This makes me proud and optimistic about the future for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.

Simon Hart MP

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