Make no mistake: SMEs’ futures in peril
This country’s reputation as a great nation of shopkeepers is in grave danger, according to a report published today by an influential select committee.
Findings by the Business and Trade Committee sitting in the House of Commons reveal pressures on small-to-medium businesses as being akin to, and in some cases greater than, those experienced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Without intervention, the trajectory outlined for businesses operating in communities the country over indicates that they simply will not survive – when the worst of the lockdowns hit, government support was put in place. No such safety net exists today.
There is a haunting line in the report: “The Committee concludes that the current pressures on small businesses are cumulative, structural and self-reinforcing. Without action, these conditions risk accelerating business closures, hollowing out high streets and undermining the Government’s growth objectives.”
Make no mistake: this represents a national emergency. 99.8 per cent of all UK businesses are SMEs. If they fail, the nation fails.