Government is blind and stubborn when it comes to helping business

My evening listening to the UK’s most successful – and smartest – entrepreneurs talking Brexit, the tourist tax and other hot topics left me bamboozled as to why the government isn’t paying heed, writes Chris Blackhurst

The ONS has revealed the latest GDP data for July dropped by 0.5% (PA)

There were two shows of hands on Thursday evening in the House of Lords.

E2E, the business networking and mentoring organisation (24,000 members and growing), founded by the champion of Britain’s smaller and medium enterprises, Shalini Khemka, was holding a dinner to launch E2E Profit 100, tracking Britain’s 100 private companies with the highest growth in operating profit over the last two years.

It’s the sixth such track to be produced in association with The Independent, coming after the E2E Female 100, E2E Tech 100, E2E International 100, E2E Job Creation 100 and E2E Dynamic 100.

E2E Profit 100 is the final one for this year, in some ways the big one as it’s all about driving profits. Top of the list were Newday Cards (profits up 4,975 per cent) in finance and Davies Group (4,578 per cent) in technology. Utilita Energy was third with 1,669 per cent and Super Toughened Glass on 1,518 per cent. Yes, you read those numbers correctly. These and the other 96 in the ranking represent the engine room of the British economy, creating wealth and jobs right across the country.

In the packed room were some astonishingly successful entrepreneurs. They were asked by the host, Karan Bilimoria, the Cobra Beer founder and former Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president, if they thought, seven years after the vote to leave the EU, Brexit was a good or bad thing. On the first, there were no votes; on the second, every single person, bar one, a Brexiteer Tory peer, put a hand in the air.

Then, Lord Bilimoria asked for a show of hands for those who thought the “tourist tax” – charging visitors to Britain, VAT on their shopping – was good or bad. Again, no one supported the former; while a sea of hands said it was damaging.

It’s frustrating on occasions such as this, to wonder what bit of logic do ministers not understand. There is business saying that Brexit is not working, yet they peddle the line that somehow Britain is benefiting. Equally, charging VAT to tourists who can buy the same goods in Paris or Milan or elsewhere for 20 per cent less and they’re doing so, hitting retailers and the hotel and hospitality trades primarily in London, makes no sense but the government refuses to budge.

Why? Why are they so stubborn, so blind to the obvious? Why do they not want to assist our businesses and help our economy? Looking around the tables, not for the first time at occasions such as these, I found myself wishing it was some of these folks who were in charge of the country. They’d proven themselves on the tough frontline of commerce, they knew how to nurture, develop and take sometimes tough decisions – surely, they could do a better job.

It was what Lord Bilimoria said in his closing remarks, that they’d displayed “guts” to set up on their own in the first place and then to continue. Brexit and the tourist tax are not the only challenges they face.

High on the Profit 100 chart is American Golf, a seller of golf equipment and clothing. Each day, though, said its boss, Nigel Oddy, the firm’s staff must face the increased threat of abuse and shoplifting. In golf, for heaven’s sake. Only this week, a customer put a top-of-the-range TaylorMade driver down their trouser leg and tried to make off with it. It’s the lack of action businesses find so galling. There is a plague of theft and nasty, frequently violent, behaviour and from their perspective, nothing or at least nowhere near enough, is being done about it.

Clive Owen also spoke for many present when he said that high corporate taxes were a problem. He runs A1 Loo Hire – specialising as its name suggests in the supply of portable toilets for events and construction sites. Its profits have grown a whopping 843 per cent over the last two years, but in answer to the question as to whether he felt pressured to keep on growing profits, Clive replied, only half-joking, that he didn’t feel like making much more because he didn’t want to pay even heftier tax.

The working environment was a recurring theme. These were leaders who had steered their firms through Covid. Now we’re out the other side, the issue remains whether to return to the office or WFH or try and find a compromise. Business chiefs are split on this. Geoff Hill, founder and managing director of Astute Electronics, said he was no fan of remote working. He tries to use Zoom or Teams as little as possible. Klaus Thorup from ClearScore believes it’s down to the individual and where they operate best. Meanwhile, Dhaval Patel of Universal Partners, the global payment and currency risk management specialist, described how they’ve gone out of their way to build a workspace at Canary Wharf, complete with music, constant newsfeeds, and an atmosphere that is dynamic, lively and full of energy. “We’ve created a really good vibe, which people appreciate. They want to come into work.”

The funniest moment in the evening was when James Amos of Boodle & Dunthorne, the luxury jeweller and jewellery design group, was asked when the company first made a profit. “Oh, that would be in 1798,” he replied. They’re still going strong, still in family ownership. Long may they, and the other members of the Top 100 and the other thousands of private companies that do so much for our economic wellbeing, continue.