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	<title>Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, CBE, DL &#187; Investment</title>
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		<title>Speech &#8211; Trade and Investment</title>
		<link>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-trade-and-investment/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-trade-and-investment/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:22:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ellard]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[In Parliament]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speeches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trade]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/?p=535</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Bilimoria celebrated the rise of entrepreneurship in the UK since his arrival as a student in the 1980&#8217;s.  He noted the thriving industries which are often overlooked and taken for granted in Britain, and welcomed the foreign investment that the UK continues to attract, while outlining the action <span class="ellipsis">&#8230;</span> <span class="more-link-wrap"><a href="http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-trade-and-investment/" class="more-link"><span>Read More &#8594;</span></a></span>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Bilimoria celebrated the rise of entrepreneurship in the UK since his arrival as a student in the 1980&#8217;s.  He noted the thriving industries which are often overlooked and taken for granted in Britain, and welcomed the foreign investment that the UK c<span style="line-height: 1.5;">ontinues to attract, while outlining the action that is needed to improve the UK&#8217;s flagging productivity.</span></p>
<p><span id="more-535"></span></p>
<blockquote><p>My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Maude, on his excellent maiden speech. It was a very balanced and frank speech and we look forward to much more of the same. I was privileged to interact with him in his role as Paymaster-General when I was a commissioner for six years at the Royal Hospital Chelsea—the Chelsea Pensioners—where he used to come regularly. Other interactions included going round the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood, where he showed a huge interest in British manufacturing.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When I came to this country from India in the 1980s, entrepreneurship was struggling to shake off a very negative image. The word used to conjure up images of dodgy second-hand car salesmen and people wanting to cut and run. There certainly were people wanting to break through the glass ceiling then but they were held back by attitudes including excessive regulation. Our business climate did not help. We made cars that no one wanted to drive, we mined coal that no one wanted to burn and we owned businesses that no international company wanted anything to do with. In this environment, when I decided to set up Cobra Beer, my father, who was commander-in-chief of the central army in India from the Gurkha regiment—last week I was privileged to lead a debate on the 200th anniversary of the Gurkhas—and had 350,000 troops under his command, said, “What are you doing with all this education? You’re becoming an import/export wallah”.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p>His words would have been echoed by the parents of many other prospective entrepreneurs—but just look at how present-day Britain is and how the world has changed. Entrepreneurship is cool and we have a society where anyone can get anywhere, regardless of race, religion or background. More importantly, we have a society in which we can encourage people to come to the United Kingdom to make their way in the world, and in which we enjoy a huge level of entrepreneurial talent. In fact, London leads New York and Hong Kong in terms of highly skilled, knowledge-based jobs—there are 1.5 million of them—and a recent report showed that London is one of the top two cities in Europe for entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Popat, mentioned infrastructure. We have some great infrastructure projects. Crossrail is being built beneath our feet. It is a £15 billion project and the estimated economic benefit is almost £50 billion. We will see huge effects, with thousands of jobs and world-class infrastructure.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our universities have not been spoken about enough in this debate. In the QS university rankings, London had more top-rated universities than any other city in the world. The success is not confined to London. I am proud to have been installed recently as the seventh chancellor of the University of Birmingham. We, too, were in the top 100. Along with America, we have the finest universities in the world—and, talking about Americans, in 1758 American statesman Benjamin Franklin wrote:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>That is a statement that I hope more countries will emulate.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Of course, education is an export that this country should be proud of. We have amazing strengths. The Minister spoke of inward investment. We are number two in the world in inward investment after the United States—a country that is more than six times bigger than we are. For such a tiny island, we really do, as noble Lords have said before, punch above our weight. We have 1% of the world’s population.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Since coming to England as a 19 year-old in the early 1980s, I have seen Britain transformed from the sick man of Europe to a country that is now the number five economy in the world. We enjoy one of the most open and free business climates in the world and we are a country where entrepreneurship is admired and celebrated. In spite of our tininess, we are right at the top table: a member of the G8, the G20 and NATO, and with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Our tourism industry alone brings in nearly £100 billion and we have the most respected royal family in the world.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We have world-class capabilities in every field, including advanced engineering, aerospace, automobiles, beer, architecture, design, fashion, literature, music, film, sciences, universities, museums, theatre, opera, ballet, law, accountancy, advertising—and sport. Britain came third in the Olympics and the Paralympics, with 1% of the world’s population.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This is brilliant. This is absolutely amazing. In our automobile industry, Tata Motors, run by a fellow Zoroastrian Parsee, took over Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. I spent a whole day there in 2008, soon after the takeover. I believe that I am due another visit, because my visit is completely outdated. Jaguar Land Rover is now making more profits than the Tata group paid for the company that it took over in 2008—a company that nobody wanted to buy. The automotive industry is a great British success story. Last year, Bentley announced that it was moving the manufacture of its 12-cylinder engines from the Volkswagen plant in Germany to Crewe in the UK.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It is often said that Mrs Thatcher destroyed manufacturing in the United Kingdom. The reality is that we produced more in 1990 when she left office than in 1979. The car manufacturing industry is, if anything, riding higher than ever. These are companies with British workers and British premises and British sales exported throughout the world. With a little help from India, we have the best-quality cars in the world—I am proud to drive one—being manufactured here in Britain. What a contrast with the bad old days of Rover and Morris Minor.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I could go on. Automobiles are just one example. Hitachi recently announced that it planned to move its rail business headquarters from Japan to the UK. Companies from Japan, India, Germany—pinnacles of high-tech manufacturing—are moving to the UK. This is fantastic and brings more jobs over here.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not enough has been said about partnering. Last year, we were told the amazing news about India’s “Mangalyaan”, which successfully entered Martian orbit for just over a tenth of the price of the latest NASA voyage to the red planet. Indeed, for less than the cost of the film “Gravity” the Indian space programme was able to do something that very few nations in the world have managed. Last year the Chancellor announced that £80 million would go towards funding joint space missions with India, and the UK Space Agency is doing so much to promote foreign investment in scientific research. If India can reach Mars, just imagine what we can do if we work together.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The pace of change of foreign investment in the UK is accelerating. The talent that we are attracting continues to grow. My joint venture partner Molson Coors owns the largest brewery in the world in Colorado, but it also owns the largest brewery in Britain, in Burton-on-Trent in the Midlands, where Cobra beer is brewed. The Prime Minister visited the brewery last year.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It is an American-Canadian firm that is increasing inward investment over here. It plans to invest £75 million in its brewing operations in Burton-on-Trent over the next five years. Once again, high-tech manufacturing and chemical engineering are just the sorts of things we need.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The UKTI’s Sirius programme, which I was proud to champion and launch, is a brilliant programme encouraging young entrepreneurs from across the globe to set up business in the UK via its 12-month support programme. It is amazing. UKTI calls it, “the richest package of its kind in Europe”.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In its first 12 months, thousands of young graduates from around the world, from almost 100 countries, applied to join the Sirius programme to start up their businesses right here.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have been very outspoken in my belief that the coalition Government’s immigration policy—which, unfortunately, the current Government seem to be continuing—was very damaging for business and sent out the wrong signals to our universities and academics and in terms of attracting investment and business. We should change our immigration rhetoric and, for a start, stop including international students in the immigration figures.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Inward investment in the UK is one of the genuine success stories to have emerged from the financial crisis. In every way, foreign investment is helping to transform Britain and the world for the better. On the other hand, the Minister, in his very frank speech, said that our exports are lagging. In the three months to April 2015, the UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services was estimated to be £7.2 billion, widening by £1.6 billion from the three months to January 2015. Our GDP growth is good, but our GDP per capita could and should be much higher. Our inflation is zero, which is brilliant, and our employment rate is fantastic—at 73.4% in December 2014 to February 2105, it was the highest rate since comparable records began in 1971. This is marvellous. At the close of trade on 8 May, the FTSE was 2.3% higher and the pound experienced the largest one-day rise against the dollar since the previous general election in 2010.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Davies, have spoken about productivity. It is one of the most important factors in the success of a country. The more efficient an economy is, the more that can be produced in a sustainable fashion. High productivity growth leads to a higher growth rate in the economy. The reality is that in 2013, based on GDP per hour, the UK came sixth of the G7 countries and productivity was 16 percentage points lower than the G7 average, which is the widest productivity gap since 1991. Does the Minister agree that this is a huge challenge that we have to address?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We have heard about a balanced economy. Manufacturing industry used to be much bigger than it is today. Today it employs 2.6 million people and accounts for 10% of our GDP. Almost 70% of our R&amp;D investment goes into the manufacturing sector and, as we have heard, goods produced in the sector account for 45% of all exports. As a percentage, however, we underinvest by miles in R&amp;D and innovation compared with the OECD, EU and American average. Will the Minister acknowledge that?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When it comes to all the great coalition Government initiatives for manufacturing—the catapult centres, the advanced manufacturing supply initiatives and so on—the Government still have not set a specific target of increasing manufacturing as a percentage of GDP. The Indian Government on the other hand have said that they want manufacturing as a percentage of GDP to reach 25%. Will the Minister agree that we should set a target for manufacturing as a percentage of GDP? It has dropped from 30% to 10% of GDP since the early 1970s, and we must arrest this decline. Investment in manufacturing was £26.2 billion—23% of total investment in business—and that has fallen once again.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Before I conclude, I emphasise that the Government have the right intentions. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>“We want the words: ‘Made in Britain’, ‘Created in Britain’, ‘Designed in Britain’ and ‘Invented in Britain’ to drive our nation forward”.—[Official Report, Commons, 23/3/2011; col. 966.]</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Well, let us now walk the talk.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not much mention is made of UK Trade and Investment. I have been privileged as a founding chairman of the UK India Business Council to work with that body, and I think that it does a great job. Could the Minister reassure us about support for UKTI going forward? The High Commission of India has been amazing. What are we going to do to encourage businesses to use its services more? In India, they have been fantastic. Now an Indian beer, Cobra, is being brewed in Burton-on-Trent, where IPA was brewed to send out to the troops in India. The Indian high commission helped us to launch Carling beer, a British joint-venture product of ours, in India. This is marvellous. The Minister said that the EU-India free trade agreement should be vitalised. Will the Minister tell us when that will be concluded? As for Europe, I was privileged to speak at the annual meeting of the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe. What support has been given to these excellent initiatives around Europe and around the world, including the British Business Group in India?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, said that we should really be committing more to defence. I have asked the Government many times whether we will commit to spending 2% of GDP, the NATO target. Our hard power and soft power is what makes us strong.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, spoke about the Magna Carta. What an auspicious day on which to make your maiden speech, on 15 June 2015, 800 years after the Magna Carta. Let us think of Britain’s influence, reputation and respect from that one document 800 years ago, and how it has influenced the whole world. This is what we underestimate.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I conclude by saying what a brilliant campaign is the GREAT campaign, again not mentioned so far in this debate. I urge the Government to get even more behind it. When I spoke at the Milan Expo, along with Dominic Jermey, the head of UKTI, I visited our British pavilion, the “beehive”, which was the most innovative, creative and different by miles. We stole the show, and we are going to do that until December. In Germany, which people talk about being the most powerful economy in Europe, who built the German Parliament, the Reichstag, but our own Lord Foster?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In design, we are the best in the world. The UK is the epicentre of trading—we have been a trading centre for ever—and the epicentre of truth, justice, fairness and openness.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Minister and I visited the Rolls-Royce factory, where you see this acronym everywhere: PRIDE. We should have pride in our abilities as the best trading nation and inward investment nation in the world.</p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Speech &#8211; Budget Statement</title>
		<link>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-budget-statement/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-budget-statement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2015 14:32:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ellard]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[In Parliament]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speeches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[higher education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[R&D]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/?p=571</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lord Bilimoria today responded to the Government&#8217;s last Budget Statement of this Parliament during a debate in the House of Lords.  In his speech, he acknowledged the importance of the Government&#8217;s austerity agenda to the UK&#8217;s long-term prosperity, but stressed that more investment is needed in areas like higher education and research and development, to improve the nation&#8217;s productivity, <span class="ellipsis">&#8230;</span> <span class="more-link-wrap"><a href="http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-budget-statement/" class="more-link"><span>Read More &#8594;</span></a></span>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Lord Bilimoria today responded to the Government&#8217;s last Budget Statement of this Parliament during a debate in the House of Lords.  In his speech, he acknowledged the importance of the Government&#8217;s austerity agenda to the UK&#8217;s long-term prosperity, but stressed that more investment is needed in areas like higher education and research and development, to improve the nation&#8217;s productivity, while noting the severity of the Government&#8217;s austerity programme on the UK&#8217;s growth rate during this Parliament.</p>
<p><span id="more-571"></span></p>
<blockquote><p>My Lords, the Government are very proud of the good things in the economy at the moment. As the Minister said in opening the debate, we have low inflation, low interest rates, high employment and growth figures et cetera, but, as he said, it is austerity to prosperity, and he admitted frankly that productivity is too low and the deficit too high.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, my noble friend Lord Low held a debate which I chaired. The motion was:</p>
<p>“This house believes that the Government’s deficit reduction plan involves cutting the deficit too far and too fast”.</p>
<p>The noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, was present as well. We had Jonathan Portes, the well known economist, Simon Wren-Lewis, professor of economics at Oxford University, Roger Bootle and Doug McWilliams—all very well known economists. When the motion was put to the vote at the insistence of the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, it was carried quite comfortably. The point was made, as the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, has mentioned in the debate, that the calculations are that if austerity had not been as severe as it was, the growth rate could have been 5% to 10% higher over the five-year period. One needs just to do the sums to see the difference that that would have made. On the other hand, austerity has created confidence in the global financial markets and we have the security of a lender of last resort in the form of the Bank of England.</p>
<p>The Chancellor has, on the one hand, shown his commitment to long-term prosperity for the economy by sticking to the austerity agenda, but, on the other, he has not had the guts to invest in what will make this country truly competitive and increase the productivity that so many noble Lords have spoken about. For example, where in the Budget is an increase in investment in higher education? We invest less by far as a proportion of GDP than the United States, the EU average and the OECD average. This Labour proposal to reduce tuition fees to £6,000 is a red herring. What we need is more investment in higher education. What about investment in innovation? Where in the Budget is the major investment in R&amp;D and innovation? Once again, we as a country invest way below the United States, the EU and the OECD average as a proportion of GDP. The patent box is tinkering at the edges. How can we get businesses and universities to invest more in innovation? Will the Minister tell us about that?</p>
<p>What about tax rates being competitive? A brilliant thing the Government have done is to bring corporation tax down to 20%. It is one of the best things they have done, attracting inward investment and making our companies more competitive. On the other hand, the Government do not have the guts to bring the income tax rate down to 40%. In his enthusiastic speech, the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, spoke about the catalogue of achievements of the Blair Government. It was the Blair Government who carried on with 40% rate of tax, until it was increased to 50%. It was the Blair Government who reduced capital gains tax to 18%, which was hugely competitive, while entrepreneurs’ relief was 10%, encouraging wealth creation, prosperity and tax competitiveness. On the other hand, the Labour Government’s mistake was to increase public spending to nearly 50% of GDP. This Government want to reduce it to 36% of GDP. I still believe that will require unrealistic and drastic cuts in the welfare state and the NHS, which make up a huge proportion of our public spending. Will the Minister explain how the Government are going to achieve that drastic cut? As the Chancellor said, the EU has 7% of the world’s population, 25% of its economy and 50% of its welfare spending. In the Chancellor’s words, we cannot go on like this. Will the Minister explain what he is going to do?</p>
<p>When it comes to defence, the Government refuse to commit to the 2% of GDP NATO commitment. Will the Minister commit to it? The SDSR was negligent. We do not have our Nimrods, which we now need with Russian submarine incursions. We have no aircraft carrier capability for Harriers, which we have needed several times over the past five years, let alone now with the threat in the Falklands. For one of the strongest defence countries in the world to have no carrier capability for a decade is negligent. The Army cannot even fill Wembley, which is negligent. The security of our country is our number one priority. We have physically destroyed the Nimrods and depend for carriers on the French—on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Will the Minister tell us whether the back-up from the French has been effective?</p>
<p>When he speaks, will the noble Lord, Lord Davies, speak about Labour’s policies? We hear about the dangerous policies: the mansion tax; raising income tax to 50p; increasing corporation tax by perhaps up to 6%; employees sitting on boards of companies’ remuneration committees; employees being given first refusal when a company is sold; and employees being given a share of companies’ profits. To an entrepreneur and a businessman, these sound like real communist measures, and we know how successful communism has been. The business community has genuine concern about the leader of the Opposition and his care for, knowledge of and familiarity with business. He has missed out business in many major speeches. Will the noble Lord on the Front Bench confirm that these Labour measures will be implemented?</p>
<p>What about the SNP? The leader of the Opposition says he will not go into coalition with the SNP, but what if the SNP props up a Labour Government? It wants to get rid of Trident, our nuclear deterrent. Would the noble Lord, Lord Davies, agree with that? Increase public expenditure and you have the nightmare scenario of Labour being propped up by the SNP. It reminds me that in the middle of the financial crisis, my fellow Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Desmond Tutu, looked up and said, “Oh God, we know you’re up there, but can you make it a little more obvious?”.</p>
<p>It is a question of balance. Britain is number two in the world in inward investment. We have to protect that, and Governments have not been able to. If you look at the graphs in the Budget reports, Governments have not been able to balance their books. Public spending at 40% is the best a Government can achieve. That is what we should target, and getting a 40% tax take. With regard to debt interest, servicing it alone takes 2.5% of GDP. Will the Minister tell us what the plan is when debt interest goes up? How will the Government deal with that amount of more than £50 billion?</p>
<p>The Office of Tax Simplification is an oxymoron. Simplification of tax collection is in this Budget, but the tax code is still 11,000 pages long. There are huge issues here. As chancellor of the University of Birmingham, I chaired for the first time the university court and the university annual meeting. I was able proudly to say that it is a billion-dollar institution. It has revenue of more than £500 million, a healthy surplus, a healthy cash position and, most importantly, a £300 million infrastructure investment programme over the next five years, with a state-of-the-art swimming pool, libraries, a dental centre, new student accommodation and all the things that make it attractive to inward investment in terms of students and academics from around the world. If only our country could balance its books in that way and have an investment programme in the future, we would be able to get high productivity, get the deficit down and get our debt down.</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Speech &#8211; Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill</title>
		<link>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-small-business-enterprise-and-employment-bill/</link>
		<comments>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-small-business-enterprise-and-employment-bill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2014 22:32:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jack Tindale]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[In Parliament]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/?p=495</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Speaking in the House of Lords on Tuesday, Lord Bilimoria’s addressed a number of issues emerging from the Second Reading of the SME. Touching on matters ranging from the pub tie, to entrepreneurship, to tax relief &#8211; his speech was well received and gained positive comments from the Business Minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, and from other members of the <span class="ellipsis">&#8230;</span> <span class="more-link-wrap"><a href="http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/speech-small-business-enterprise-and-employment-bill/" class="more-link"><span>Read More &#8594;</span></a></span>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Speaking in the House of Lords on Tuesday, Lord Bilimoria’s addressed a number of issues emerging from the Second Reading of the SME. Touching on matters ranging from the pub tie, to entrepreneurship, to tax relief &#8211; his speech was well received and gained positive comments from the Business Minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, and from other members of the House including the former Energy Secretary, Lord Wakeham.</p>
<p><span id="more-495"></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">My Lords, last month, I accompanied my university contemporary, Greg Clark, the Universities Minister, on a delegation to India. I spoke at an Indian higher education conference. Sitting next to me, sharing the platform, was the first ever permanent secretary-equivalent of a department newly created in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi: the department for skills and entrepreneurship.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I declare my various interests to do with this debate and the Bill. Last Monday, I spoke at the opening of Global Entrepreneurship Week alongside Vince Cable, where it was revealed that London is one of the top two cities for entrepreneurship in Europe. Last week, I became a founding member of the Guild of Entrepreneurs, which will soon become a livery company in the City of London. We are currently on the 687th Lord Mayor of London, so it has taken us a long time to establish a Guild of Entrepreneurs.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Yesterday, I was at my old university, Cambridge, speaking at the 10th anniversary of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Judge Business School. I have been proud to have been appointed one of the first two visiting entrepreneurs at Cambridge, and have been involved with the CfEL since its inception, spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship throughout the university—not just the business school but the whole Cambridge University community. More than 300 students from around the university attend projects such as Enterprise Tuesday. Look at the culture shift that has taken place. When I was at Cambridge in the 1980s, there was no business school. Today, there is not only a flourishing business school but a centre for entrepreneurial learning.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">However, there is not one mention of the word “entrepreneurship” in the entire text of the Bill. Can the Minister explain that omission? I am of course delighted, as the Federation of Small Businesses noted, that the Bill even exists in the first place. There is a lot that is music to my ears. There is so much of what the Minister said that is fantastic, such as helping businesses start from home, and childcare help for businesses. She herself noted that small businesses make a huge contribution to the UK economy. Between them, SMEs comprise 96% of all UK businesses, accounting for about half of UK jobs and one-third of private sector turnover—the engine of our economy.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Speaking as someone who started a business with just two people that has grown over the years, I have seen first-hand entrepreneurial businesses. My business has dealt a lot with the curry restaurant industry. More than 10,000 of them are represented by the Bangladesh Caterers Association: pioneering entrepreneurs who have made curry the favourite cuisine of this country. I know the sacrifices that those individuals have made; I know how difficult it is to start, to grow and to survive in business. One of the first cases I ever sold of my product was to a local corner shop. Of course, those corner shops have survived and grown thanks to the Asian community. So I have been a micro-business, an “s”, an “m” and now I have a joint venture with a global giant.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">There is a problem with the terminology used in the Bill. Grant Thornton—I declare an interest as I have dealt with the firm for many years as a client—has noticed that there is an unnecessarily restrictive definition of SMEs in the Bill. The current definition of SMEs used by the Government largely excludes mid-sized businesses from many of the provisions of the legislation, such as on access to finance, late payment and credit information. However, these same businesses will still have to abide by a number of additional burdens, such as the duty to publish a report on payment practices.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Grant Thornton estimates that approximately 34,000 mid-sized businesses will be left behind by the Bill, as they lack the resources of the large corporates that are needed to cope with additional regulatory reporting but are not granted the same exemptions granted to SMES within the Bill. Will the Minister acknowledge and, I hope, deal with this omission by widening the positive provisions to a larger section of the business population and altering the definition of an SME used in the Bill, which is based on the Companies Act and restricts an SME to a turnover of just £25 million.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">On access to finance, the United Kingdom lags way behind our major competitors. Just look at Germany, where SMEs can draw upon close personal and financial links with a multitude of local lenders, many of which are state owned or operated as mutual firms. Germany’s small and medium-sized businesses, the Mittelstand, are exemplary and have been the centre of the economic success of that economy. The United States has always been brilliant in the way that it has helped to fund its small businesses, but I believe that we could go even further. In fact, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, of which I am proud to be a fellow, recommends that in order to help businesses with the wider issue of finance and cash flow the Government should foster new business growth by introducing critical growth loans, where a percentage of the loan is guaranteed for SMEs trading for between two and five years.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I have benefited personally from the Government’s small firms loan guarantee scheme, which is brilliant at enabling businesses that do not have the collateral to get the Government to back the security with the bank that lends to the business. We could and should increase that lending far more than we are. Does the Minister agree that we should be doing this? Business is going global. The Bill talks about export finance and there is so much good work going on. UK Trade &amp; Investment has sponsored a programme called Sirius, where we attract the brightest young graduates from around the world to come and open their businesses here in the UK. This is the sort of initiative that we should be encouraging and growing.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">With regard to the moral aspects of the Bill, the fact that we are addressing the minimum wage is excellent. If the Bill is clamping down on those rogue businesses which exploit their workforce, that is great news. I cannot think of any ethical business that would pay less than the minimum wage, let alone the living wage. However, the Guardian reported last week that despite the Business Secretary’s rhetoric last year that the coalition Government would crack down on firms that underpay their employees, there have been no successful prosecutions of such illegality since February 2013. Can the Minister confirm that? The annual survey of hours and earnings for the Office for National Statistics recently reported that around 287,000 workers were paid at less than the minimum wage in 2012. Are the Government aware of that and why are they not doing more about it? I hope that the Bill will be able to address this. Can the Government assure us about it?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">With regard to the pub industry, I said that I declared my interest and I cannot spend the whole of my time declaring my interest in this area. The sad thing is that more than 10,000 pubs have closed down in the United Kingdom in just the last decade. We need to do everything we can to save the British pub, which is at the heart of British communities. The beer tie itself is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Of course, it allows big brewing or pub groups to invest in the pubs. To actually start a pub, you have to put down perhaps £250,000. However, if you are with a big pubco you do not have to do that and can actually run a pub. That is the advantage of being part of a big pub group.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">However, if by doing that you also have to pay 70% to 80% above the market price for your beer, and pay higher rents, that does not feel fair at all. Given the recent defeat on this issue in the other place, I am delighted to hear the Minister say that the Government have listened and are going to try to achieve what I hope will be a middle way, where we can have the benefits that the big pub groups bring while enabling our pubs to be competitive and flexible, and to flourish, thrive and grow.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">With regard to insolvency, Britain’s insolvency environment ranks pretty highly. In fact, we rank seventh in the world. The Bill talks about reforming insolvency in this country. I do not believe it is doing it in bold enough terms. For example, we are not going as far as having the famous American Chapter 11 or the Canadian Division 1 principles—and, surprise, surprise, countries number 1 and 2 in the insolvency environment are Canada and the United States of America. Those two measures, Chapter 11 in particular, provide a company trying to restructure with protection from creditors to give it time to do so. I have gone through this. I tried to institute a company voluntary arrangement. We got 90% of our creditors to agree, but we could not go through because there was no protection and one of the creditors scuppered the whole arrangement.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Bill talks about pre-pack administrations. This is meant to be the least worst alternative. I have had to go through this procedure. It is awfully painful, but it is there to save brands and businesses if companies go through the procedure above board, as we did. I am proud to say that today we have a brand and a company that are flourishing. The worst thing about it is that when I went through that procedure I realised how badly misused it is in this country. It is misused to the extent that shareholders, creditors and, worst of all, employees suffer. That is not on. I do not think that the measures in the Bill go anywhere near far enough to improve the pre-pack administration regime. Bringing in Chapter 11 would be the best way of taking things forward. Do the Government agree?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Most importantly, this Bill is not just about businesses remaining as they are. As the Minister said, around one-fifth of small businesses say that they want to grow significantly and are determined to do so. The overall thrust of this legislation is aimed at making it easier for SMEs to operate and grow within the economy, which is something we should celebrate. Why are the Government not going further? One of the things that SMEs need is education. I attended the business growth programme at Cranfield. Cambridge has the diploma in entrepreneurship. These are fantastic courses, but they cost up to £10,000 a year. The Government should have a competition for 100 businesses a year to attend these courses to improve their competitiveness and help them to grow. Will the Government accept this suggestion?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I do not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. The fact that the Bill exists in the first place is wonderful, but I despair that it does not emphasise entrepreneurship. I worry that Britain today is number 2 in the world in inward investment. That is something we should be proud of because we are an open economy. However, I hear stories of Indian businesses having huge problems opening bank accounts and setting up companies over here. We are trying to address money laundering, but we are hampering our competitiveness and inward investment capabilities. We are one of the top 10 economies in the world. We have to encourage entrepreneurship, growth and employment.</p>
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		<title>Interview &#8211; Bloomberg</title>
		<link>http://www.lordbilimoria.co.uk/interview-bloomberg/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2014 12:01:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jack Tindale]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJP]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Lord Bilimoria was interviewed by Bloomberg&#8217;s &#8220;The Pulse&#8221; television programme regarding the recent landslide election of the BJP in India and examined the potential business and economic impact of opposition leader Narendra Modi’s victory at the polls.  The full video can be found HERE.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Lord Bilimoria was interviewed by Bloomberg&#8217;s &#8220;The Pulse&#8221; television programme regarding the recent landslide election of the BJP in India and examined the potential business and economic impact of opposition leader Narendra Modi’s victory at the polls. </span></p>
<p>The full video can be found <a href="http://origin-www.bloomberg.com/video/modi-win-positive-for-indian-business-bilimoria-Kfe2moOPR86VuB0JRb0MKg.html"><strong>HERE</strong></a>.</p>
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