Rt Hon Rachel Reeves’ Post

The denial or ignorance of what is happening on the ground is worrying as we head into the second Budget. Labour are not listening to small business.

You have completely screwed the SMEs in the UK with your reckless taxation and employment rules

growth for who? the 0.1% whose wealth is increasing exponentially? the firms constantly sending jobs offshore while at the same time waving the british flag around & expecting the tax payer to bail them out or give them contracts? maybe if your staff understood the idea of "friedman rinse and repeat" is a sign of insanity we may try something brave like rejoin the EU, £100,000 tax on EVERY job offshored & the removal of tax payer guaranteed deposits for any bank that sends jobs offshore & a ban on government contracts for any firm that doesn't have 100% of its staff domestically located

Right now, there are thousands of hard pressed businesses still reeling from the nic hike, in plain fear of the ER bill and yet more punitive red tape, not less; a flat ( or faltering ) economy with all investment on hold or ‘off the table’. That’s the reality of an economy holding its breath for an end to the speculation and briefings/uturns etc. next Wednesday. Growth needs confidence, encouragement, reward for risk and stability. So far, it’s hard to see any of those provided since July 2024.

With respect, this narrative doesn’t reflect what’s happening on the ground. While cutting “red tape” is great, it means very little when the wider economic architecture is unstable. Also hiding behind having “to make difficult decisions”, does not cut the mustard in the real world.

May I remind you that the London Stock Exchange is not flourishing in fact, it’s floundering. There were only five IPOs in the first half of 2025, which raised just £160 million, according to Dealogic. That’s among the lowest half-year figures since records began in 1995. That doesn’t support your mission of “economic growth” when, at the same time, people are being taxed so heavily that high-net-worth individuals are leaving. According to Henley & Partners, something like 9,500 wealthy Brits are expected to emigrate, many heading to EU countries Portugal, Spain or tax-friendlier places like the UAE. This isn’t just about money. It’s a brain drain, too entrepreneurial talent is walking out the door. And let’s not ignore how Poland is not just growing it’s closing the gap with the UK. Its GDP per capita in purchasing-power-parity (PPP) terms has been rising quickly. Some analysts and commentators argue that Poland’s economic trajectory could eventually outpace the UK’s if tax policy and investment continue on this path. So yeah. You keep repeating “my mission is economic growth,” but talk is cheap. The data says something very different.

Hey Rach… You might want to grab a coffee and scroll through the 175+ comments under your post. It’s basically the Budget feedback you won’t get from within the Treasury - and it’s BRUTAL. I know you’re the former Bank of England economist and all that, but here are the numbers everyone’s politely (or not so politely) trying to show you: 👉 0.1% “growth” – no, that’s not growth or impressive, that’s the economy blinking. 👉 Unemployment has increased from 4.3% to 5% – that is roughly 180,000 people. Redundancies up a third, that's always a fun indicator. 👉 Manufacturing down 15 to 20% in places – but hey, at least you’ve found a few IPOs, right? 👉 SMEs are on their knees, contractors squeezed, umbrellas collapsing, investment frozen… the whole comment section is basically one huge cry for help. 👉 And meanwhile, you’re talking about “cutting red tape” like it’s all going swimmingly. That is marvellous. The people actually driving the economy, the ones hiring, building, contracting, exporting, creating... are all telling you they’re drowning - to the point of death. So, if growth really is your “number one mission”, I would suggest starting by reading through your own comments section.

Last week I ran a recruiter search 7.3 million open to work on LinkedIn from 42 million total. Not all are unemployed but millions are. This is the highest level of white collar unemployment in history, knowledge workers on universal credit. Small business owners and their workforce worn down with high costs, no growth, no pay rises. Ai ripping through jobs. Tech industry first of course, but Ai is going to have a profound impact on jobs. Like e-commerce wiped out the high street Ai will do the same for jobs. And the problem is I just don’t think you get it! You must fire up growth by doing something pretty redical, especially for SMEs who are giving upto 25% of their profit away to you. 15% ni on the bonuses I pay my people. Crazy. Do something radical, get companies growing and hiring again.

The policies enacted in the 2024 Budget don’t appear to support your assertion in the first line of your post. Let’s hope that position changes very soon, to support those individuals, businesses and sectors that are key to delivery. To date the words and the policies are not aligned which is rather a worry.

The current environment for entrepreneurs and SMEs is increasingly challenging. Princes Group, the Italian/Japanese majority-owned company and Shawbrook — a bank that lends to businesses unable to secure finance, often at eye-watering rates — illustrate the limited and costly avenues of support available. Equally, Fermi America provides a solution that GB Energy could embrace wholeheartedly, if GB Energy were in a position to offer anything concrete Despite this, the reality is that very little meaningful assistance is reaching the companies that are now being forced to cut staff and reduce overheads to cope with the cost increases of the past year. We are awaiting the budget with apprehension, uncertain of whether further pressure or genuine relief will follow. Speaking personally, and based on my own experience, we have worked exceptionally hard throughout and since COVID, investing heavily to deliver solutions for customers. It is difficult to reconcile that effort with a climate that offers so little prospect of growth. At this point, the rational decision appears to be taking the investment back out, operating with fewer employees, and accepting that our businesses may remain growth-neutral for the foreseeable future.