David Cameron as Prime Minister

Conservative leader David Cameron has become the UK’s new prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be his deputy after they agreed to the UK’s first coalition government in 70 years.

The Conservatives manifesto for businesses:

‘Our goal is simple: to make Britain the easiest and the best place in the world to set up and grow a business.

We will:

• Stop Labour’s jobs tax that will kill the recovery;
• Cut Corporation Tax rates. We will cut the main rate from 28p to 25p and the small companies’ rate from 22p to 20p, funded by reducing complex reliefs;
• Exempt all new businesses starting in the first two years of a Conservative Government from Employers’ National Insurance on the first ten employees they hire in the first year;
• Reduce the burden of red tape on business with a ‘one in one out’ rule for new regulation and regulatory budgets for departments so that new regulations cannot be introduced unless the burden is reduced elsewhere. And we will give the public the opportunity to force the worst regulations to be repealed;
• Reduce the number of forms needed to register a new business – moving towards a ‘one-click’ registration model – with the aim of making Britain the fastest place in the world to start a business. We will also end restrictions on people starting a business in social housing to enable social tenants to become entrepreneurs;
• Simplify business taxes. In our first Budget, we will set out a five year road map for the direction of business tax reform, providing greater certainty and stability to businesses. We will create an independent Office of Tax Simplification to review and suggest reforms to the tax system and its effect on small business, including IR35;
• Extend government procurement to small and medium-sized businesses by cutting administrative requirements, with the aim of seeing 25 per cent of government contracts go to SMEs;
• Make Britain Europe’s leading hi-tech exporter of manufactured goods by implementing Sir James Dyson’s recommendations to boost science and engineering.
• Make small business rate relief automatic; and
• Create more diverse sources of available credit for SMEs building on our proposals for a big, bold and simple National Loan Guarantee Scheme.

To create a new generation of small businesses, our Work for Yourself programme will help move people into self-employment. We will build a network of business mentors and offer substantial loans to would-be entrepreneurs, supporting self-employment and franchising as a route back into work. We will work with specialist organisations that already have a proven track record in this area, like the Prince’s Trust and the Bright Ideas Trust, to offer the best support.

We understand that enterprise will generate a sustainable recovery, not the state – that’s why we need to make Britain open for business again.’