FSB: Labour Leader joins all party line-up at FSB Annual Conference

Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband MP joins a top political line-up to address delegates on the importance of small firms, at the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Annual Conference in March.

The conference, from 17 to 19 March at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool, will see an all party line-up including a video address by the Prime Minister, David Cameron and a direct speech from Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband.

As effects of the public sector cuts truly begin to show with VAT and fuel duty rises, unemployment at 2.5 million and GDP moving back into negative territory, small businesses will be looking to these politicians to see how they will nurture entrepreneurship and help small businesses grow, innovate and take on new staff.

Delegates will also have the chance to talk directly with Small Business Minister, Mark Prisk who will be running an exclusive small business surgery to discuss the day-to-day issues affecting small firms.

Business Secretary, Dr Vince Cable MP has been invited to take to the podium to complete the all party line-up.

More than 750 delegates will be able to fire questions to politicians and join the debate.

John Walker, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, said:

“Small business confidence reached its lowest level at the end of 2010 and this year hasn’t started on a positive footing with tax rises, increases in unemployment and GDP entering negative territory. So at the Annual Conference this year, small businesses will be looking to hear exactly what growth stimulus political parties plan to put in place to help them do what they know best – grow, innovate and create jobs.

“As we have heard time and again, small businesses are the key to recovery. They will create revenue and jobs to the UK economy. But they need the right environment to do that. It is vital that policy makers prove that they really are listening to the county’s five million small businesses. The FSB Annual Conference provides the platform for them to do this.”

Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Small businesses will be the engine that drives the economic recovery in 2011 and they should be the Government’s top priority in the year ahead. I look forward to hearing from small businesses from the North West and the rest of the country about what they need to play their vital role in boosting British growth.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The FSB is Britain’s leading business organisation with over 210,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at www.fsb.org.uk

The FSB Annual Conference is being held at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool between 17 and 19 March 2011. Exhibitors include Towergate, Dell, Visa and Co-op, ASC Finance and British Gas.

The FSB’s Annual Conference is the biggest non-governmental SME conference in the UK. Previous conferences have been held in Aberdeen, Cardiff, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast and Leeds. For more information go to www.fsb.org.uk

The main sponsor at Conference 2011 is Visa. In Europe, there are over 380 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. Visa Europe is owned and operated by over 4,000 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004. For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com

ISDN facilities are available for broadcast media interviews

Contacts

Andrew Cave, Chief Spokesperson: 07917 628991
Prue Watson: 020 7592 8121/ 07825 125695 prue.watson@fsb.org.uk
Sara Lee: 020 7592 8113/ 07595 067068 sara.lee@fsb.org.uk

For regional FSB contacts please go to www.fsb.org.uk