General Election 2024


An event out of our control, or just a bump in the road?


An event out of our control, or just a bump in the road? When the election date was announced, right on deadline, my fi rst question was whether or not we should cover it? My initial reaction was ‘Yes, defi nitely’, followed by


my inner voice saying ‘No, we must never get involved in politics’, then the chimp on my shoulder chipped in with ‘Why not, you could probably do a better job of running this great country than half of Parliament’. So here goes… To begin, I’m all for the idea of the Common Sense


Party. T e challenge is, that in 2024, it seems common sense is not very common. As a nation, 94% of the economy is made up by SMEs.


T e government’s defi nition of an SME is a company that has between 10 and 250 employees, or a turnover of £2m to £50m. T at, in itself, is laughable. If you sat down 100 MDs of companies with 10 employees and 100 MDs of companies with 250 employees you’d see they are facing extremely diff erent challenges. T e PAYE bill of a company with 250 employees for one quarter will be close to the turnover of a company that employs 10 people, yet the government decide to bundle us all together. Meanwhile, the rest are corporate giants who pay very little or no tax whilst benefi ting from the smaller businesses in their supply chain.


Ben Thomas Managing Director All Things Business


I feel that Great Britain is losing its greatness, because


those with power and authority are not making the right decisions, and the political system has to change. Very few MPs have control of their own destiny, let alone their constituents. Too many of them are looking to the next two years at best, competing and lobbying for ‘that job’ – one that will benefi t who? T em. It will look good on their CV. How many of them have been involved in projects, or


started something but not fi nished it? When they do agree with their opposition, can they actually put into practice what both parties have agreed on? More often than not they can’t. It’s almost like they enjoy the merry-go-round of arguing and then, of course, we have the cover ups. Many of us have skeletons in the closet, but some MPs


seem to have them by the roomful, helping each other out until the time comes when they cross each other and use it against one another – it can more like an episode of Eastenders than a seat of government. Would this behaviour be tolerated in the private sector?


Seriously… ask yourself, would the majority of MPs and ministers survive in the private sector? These are the people that are making decisions for millions of us now, and for the next generation, and the generation after that. T e fact is small businesses are also producing goods


and providing services for people now, for the next generation and, in some cases, the generation after that – but imagine if they ran their businesses like our government has been run recently. We’ve had fi ve Chancellors of the Exchequer since the 2019 general election, not to mention fi ve Business Secretaries and fi ve Education Secretaries. Just think what your business would look like today if you’d had fi ve CEOs, fi ve Finance Directors and fi ve Operations Directors in the past fi ve years – in the unlikely event you still had a business, it wouldn’t be going anywhere fast. T e private sector and public sector, in my opinion, has


never been further apart. I fi rmly believe that the public sector can, and needs to, learn from the private sector. One politician said years ago that we need to make Britain great again, and we do, because the people we have in this country are great. But for me, this is just another year, with another


challenge, and we have no real choice but to pull our socks up and get on with it. I just wait for the year, or years, where we do not have to contend with a signifi cant event that causes uncertainty but that is beyond our control. I have been playing the Euro Millions for over 10 years,


with one goal in mind… if/when I ever win I will form the Common Sene Party. Until then, my team and I will keep serving the communities in which we work, and continue making a diff erence. If you have read this far, thank you… and I appreciate


all feedback, so don’t hold back. Email me at news@allthingsbusiness.co.uk


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