Business

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

Labour failed to deliver real help to businesses during the recession. In fact, more companies went bust than in any other downturn since records began.

• They failed to help sound companies obtain credit to keep them running through the downturn.
• They failed to deliver on promises to ease the burden of red tape, especially on small and medium-sized firms.
• And they failed to understand businesses' cash flow problems and are actually planning to increase them with a rise in National Insurance Contributions - a straightforward tax on jobs.

Labour's Recession was due to a credit crunch. So the priority has to be to get the credit markets moving. As a temporary measure to help businesses through the recession, Conservatives called for a big, bold and simple National Loans Guarantee Scheme to get credit flowing again and help protect jobs. To help firms through during the recovery, we would use government guarantees to create more diverse sources of affordable credit for businesses, building on our original proposals.

As part of our plan to Get Britain Working to tackle Labour's Jobs Crisis, we aim to transform the British economy and bring about a real focus on enterprise and innovation. One aspect of this will be the Work for Yourself programme to 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 also want to ensure Britain is one of the most competitive economies in which to do business in the future by:

• Abolishing tax on new jobs created by new businesses within the first two years of a Conservative government.
• Reducing the burden of regulation with a 'one-in, one-out' rule for new regulations, introducing regulatory budgets and sunset clauses to give businesses more freedom and greater flexibility.
• Making Britain one of the easiest places in the world to start a business. We will 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.
• Cutting the main rate of Corporation Tax.
• Cutting the Small Companies' Corporation Tax rate.
• Making Britain Europe's leading hi-tech exporter, with the help of Sir James Dyson's taskforce.
• Simplifying employment law to make it easier to hire people.
• Improving skills training and apprenticeships.
• Reforming the Regional Development Agencies to create a vibrant, business-focused force that is more responsive to local needs.
• Strengthening UK Trade and Investment to give British business a powerful voice abroad.
• Making small business rate relief automatic.
• Increasing government procurement from small firms and improving prompt payment.

We recognise the huge contribution business makes to society - and that's why we want to make Britain open for business again.