I held a meeting with the Environment Agency and the Minister for preventing floods to ask what more action can be taken to tackle flooding issues along the Emm and Loddon rivers in Wokingham Borough. I was told that they are working on a study of the… read more
25 January 2017
South West Green MEP, Molly Scott Cato, who is Green Party economics and finance speaker, has warned that the hard Brexit being pursued by the Conservative government will prove disastrous for small businesses in the UK. Dr Scott Cato says that exiting the single market, leaving the customs union and ending free movement will all hit small businesses hard.
A new report by the Federation of Small Business (FSB) [1] paints a mixed picture of the potential impacts for small businesses of leaving the EU. However, the FSB recognises that 92% of small business exports go to the EU, but a third of small businesses surveyed for the report expect a decrease in their exports as a result of the UK leaving the EU. Around 1 in 5 of FSB members employ at least one or more non-UK EU citizens and the organisation acknowledges the importance of being able to continue accessing appropriately skilled workers for jobs that they create. Molly Scott Cato said:
“Small businesses are the bedrock of the local and regional economy. They account for more than 99% of all businesses in the UK and small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) between them employ almost 16 million people; 60% of the private sector workforce [2]. With such a huge percentage of their exports going into the EU single market, withdrawal from this market is clearly going to have a massive impact on thousands of UK workers.
“Many small firms are also heavily reliant on mid-skill and unskilled workers; the very people who will not be covered by agreements over employment quotas if we lose freedom of movement.
“Furthermore, the costs of meeting new bureaucratic requirements if we leave the customs union will make exports unviable at a small scale.
“So, the extreme form of Brexit that the government is pushing for will have hugely negative impacts on thousands of small businesses and millions of workers. But this is not what we were told would happen as a result of leaving the EU. No one voted for a decline in our exports and loss of jobs. It is clear that the Tories can no longer claim to be the Party of business”.
Earlier today, Dr Scott Cato met with the EU and International chair of the FSB, Ken Moon, to discuss concerns his members have about the UK leaving the EU, the single market and the customs union.
[2] http://www.fsb.org.uk/media-centre/small-business-statistics
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Barbara Keeley, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, commenting on an investigation by the Health Service Journal and Disability United, which reveals that Clinical Commissioning Groups are drawing up new restrictions governing care for older and disabled people, said:
“It is deeply worrying that thousands of vulnerable people could be forced to move into care homes against their will just because that is a cheaper option than living at home.
“Evicting older or disabled people from their homes due to decisions about the cost of their care is unacceptable. This could also affect people who need care at home at the end of their lives.
“Tory Health Minsters should be acting to address the challenges on the costs of care. The Government must ensure that the NHS and social care has the funding it needs.”
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