SMALL businesses have declined since Labour came to power, Romsey's Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley warned.
She spoke out as the Department for Trade and Industry relaunched support services for small companies. Official statistics showed the government had presided over a spectacular collapse of small business since 1997. The number of south-east companies de-registering for VAT jumped from 22,955 in 1997 to 27,355 in 2002 - a 19 per cent rise. Over the same period, new VAT registrations in the south-east have fallen by seven per cent.
The number of small businesses folding in the Southampton area increased from 495 to 600 - up 21 per cent.
New start-ups fell from 585 to 510 over the same period - down 12 per cent. Mrs Gidley said: "The government has a dismal record of supporting small business. Simply re-branding and re-structuring existing support schemes will not help small business to survive against the increased burden of red tape and taxation."
She said the Lib Dems would free businesses from government bureaucracy and plough savings into local businesses.
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