This is the fourth Parliamentary Snapshot. It uncovers MPs’ views on policies impacting entrepreneurs, providing unique insights on the opinions and working knowledge of the House of Commons. Once again, this report is supported by Bircham Dyson Bell (BDB).
Key finding include:
66% of Conservative MPs think “leaving the EU through a hard Brexit” would be good for entrepreneurship, only 8% of Labour MPs think the same.
71% of Labour MPs think “remaining within the EU” would be positive for entrepreneurship in the UK, only 10% of Conservative MPs think the same.
Greatest divergence in four years of this survey between the two main parties on lowering personal taxes, with 91% of Conservative MPs thinking it would be good for entrepreneurship, compared to just 26% of Labour MPs.
Over four years of the survey, Parliament has shown growing cross-party support for a more liberal immigration policy for British businesses. “Making it easier for entrepreneurs to move to the UK” is the second most popular change for MPs (79% of MPs are positive and 4% just negative), and we have seen increasing support from both parties for “making it easier to hire skilled workers from abroad” (62% of MPs are positive and 14% negative).
Although MPs’ knowledge about initiatives to support entrepreneurs have risen against previous years, too many initiatives remain unknown. 54% of the MPs have never even heard of Venture Capital Trusts or don’t know enough about it to know whether it’s effective.