The majority of small and medium business owners will vote for the Conservatives at the next election, a new survey suggests.
Research, conducted by insurance comparison site Coverzones, has found that most business owners consider government initiatives to help them through the economic downturn to be ineffective.
Just five per cent of owner-managers rate the government’s support for businesses as ‘good’, 32% say it is ‘average’, while 63% see it as ‘poor or non-existent’.
The report, which polled the views of 504 business owners, also found that if there was an election held tomorrow, 45% of business owners would vote Conservative, 29% Labour and 13% Liberal Democrat. Also, the Tories are strongest among owners of businesses which employ four to five people, 70% of which plan to vote Conservative.
While this is bad news for Gordon Brown, David Cameron may be showing signs of shrugging off his ‘lightweight’ moniker, as 23% of small businesses view him as the politician who best understands their needs. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on the economy, was backed by 13.7%, whereas the chancellor Alistair Darling got just a 4% approval rating.
“Initiatives such as the government’s credit guarantee scheme need to form just one part of a wider-reaching economic stimulus,” said Simon Ball, chief executive officer of Coverzones.
“The existing schemes need to be backed up by longer-term measures to encourage and support small businesses and kick-start the economy.
“Specifically, tax holidays, incentives for employing people and strategies to stimulate those industries, such as tourism and export activity, in which small and medium businesses are a major part.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2009