The Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have outlined their New Year wishlists to the government, with both organisations calling for a better deal for small firms in 2004.

The IoD stressed that the UK’s economic future relied heavily on an entrepreneur-friendly environment, and warned that complacency and low skills could harm British competitiveness.

In his annual address, George Cox, director general of the IOD, said that had long been recognised that certain lesser skilled jobs would move to countries with far lower labour costs.

“But that’s not today’s danger. It’s the high-skilled areas, which are now at risk.

“We need to compete on innovation, technology, design, flair, speed to market and quality. There’s nowhere else to go unless we want to become a cheap labour economy or a theme park.

“To guarantee a prosperous future the UK needs the right economic environment with both stability and competitive tax levels.

“We need the right regulatory environment and a highly skilled, flexible and continuously retrained labour force.

“We need an education system which matches employers’ needs and employment opportunities.

“It’s essential we have the right infrastructure, in terms of both telecommunication and transportation. And finally, we need inspired business leadership,” he said.

The FSB unveiled a list of proposals to top civil servants, claiming that government departments needed to act in several areas to aid small firms.

The lobby group’s wishlist included:

  • Action to stem the flow of vexatious applications to employment tribunals.
  • Measures to speed up the clearing of cheques.
  • Official recognition of in-house training by small firms.
  • A move to meaningful regulatory impact assessments.

John Walker, policy chairman at the FSZ, said that civil servants had an increasingly important role to play in advising politicians of the best course of action.

“A number of our key messages are well worth pursuing and we shall also be asking politicians from all sides of the party spectrum to look closely at our proposals, especially given the cumulative burden of regulations adversely affecting small businesses.

“Such regulations have a stifling impact on the job creation potential of small firms,” he said.