Nigel Farage has announced during a press conference on Monday they have launched “Small Business for Reform” warning that the government only listens to “big business.”
The Reform UK leader has set out his pitch to small business owners and has pledged to cut the red tape and regulation.
Farage said that the large businesses “virtually control and own the political arena” and said that small business owners are “literally living in fear about the inspector walking through the door”.
Farage told 300 small and medium sized business owners that he has run his own businesses and said he does understand the challenges they are facing.
Farage said, “We get it. I’ve been in business, I’ve run my own businesses, as many of my colleagues have, as thousands of our members have.
“Some on the left will tell you ‘the economy is failing because capitalism is failing’. No. We’re not living in capitalism, we’re living in an age of global corporatism.
“We’re living in an age where the big businesses virtually control and own the political arena.”
Farage said, “My message today is very, very simple: The Conservatives betrayed you on small business, Labour doesn’t have any comprehension of actually what you do as small business, we do.
“Today, as we launch Small Business for Reform, we are looking for tens of thousands of businesses up and down this country to join this organisation.”
Farage continued, “Capitalism is what these people do. Free enterprise is what these people do. These people take risks. They risk their own money. They go to the bank and borrow money.
“They have no idea at the start whether their business concept will work or not, and many of them will have failures along the way, but that’s what free market enterprise is about. It’s about risk. It’s about reward.”
He said that small businesses who do make money despite the challenges are treated like it is “wrong to be successful,” vowing Reform UK “will champion success.”
He added, “Every innovation comes originally from somebody who’s got a new idea.
“With good small business, with a healthy marketplace, you get increased choice for customers, you get better pricing, and you get better and greater technological development.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said, “Nigel Farage will say anything to get a headline, but Reform’s current plans would be a disaster for small businesses.
“Farage would rip up Labour’s deal with the EU leaving small businesses drowning in red tape, and his war on clean energy jobs would see SMEs in the energy sector and wider supply chain shut down across the country. Reform are not on the side of business or ordinary working people.”
