Nigel Farage’s Reform is not the party for small business - Yorkshire Post Letters

Nigel Farage recently (November 10) claimed that Reform UK is “the only party for small business,” promising to cut red tape and champion Britain’s entrepreneurs.

Yet this is the same man who drove Brexit - a decision that has inflicted lasting damage on the very firms he now says he wants to help, creating barriers and bureaucracy that choke trade and stifle growth.

A 2025 survey by European Movement UK found 72.8 per cent of SMEs were negatively affected by Brexit, 96.4 per cent said it had harmed their communities, and 98.2 per cent backed re-joining the European Single Market.

Independent research from the LSE and ONS also shows UK goods exports to the EU have fallen, and many small firms have stopped trading with Europe because they cannot absorb the customs checks, rules of origin and paperwork created by leaving the Single Market.

Small businesses take risks, innovate and drive jobs. They are the backbone of our economy. If Mr Farage truly cared about them, he would admit the best support any government could offer is to reduce these Brexit burdens – something a Reform-led administration is unlikely ever to do.

Instead, Reform has signalled it would oppose or unwind parts of Labour’s UK–EU reset, and senior Reform figures have warned energy investors that contracts could be challenged – a move Labour and industry say would endanger clean-energy jobs and the SMEs that depend on them.

Rachel Reeves’s Budget on November 26 is a chance to restore trade stability, tackle late payments and deliver real growth. Britain’s 5.5 million SMEs need practical help, not the kind of empty promises used to sell Brexit.