I’ve seen the problem of empty shops and businesses on our high streets especially in Norwood, Brixton e.g. Coldharbour Lane and just by Herne Hill station. I know that youth unemployment especially is high. You probably already know that Labour are planning to increase National Insurance in 2011. Anyone earning over
£20,000 will pay more tax, and employers will pay more tax on all jobs paid over £5,700.
This jobs tax, which will hit small businesses especially hard, will kill off the recovery.
Experts predict it will cost 57,000 jobs in small and medium-sized businesses alone.

Please see below the specific manifesto pledges that will help invigorate run-down high streets in this constituency:

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1) For the first two years of a Conservative government any new business will pay no Employers National Insurance on the first ten employees it hires during its first year.

2) We will act immediately to cut government waste so we can stop the most damaging part of the National Insurance rise for employers and for anyone earning under £35,000.. Seven out of ten working peoplethose earning between £7,100 and £45,400 and almost every employer will save up to £150 a year per person compared to under Labour. Lower earners will get the greatest benefit as a percentage of their earnings. Nobody will be worse off as a result of our changes.

3) We will support would-be entrepreneurs through a new programme – Work for Yourself which will give unemployed people direct access to business mentors and substantial loans.
We need to make work pay, so we will keep the minimum wage and work to reduce the very high marginal tax rates faced by many people on low incomes who want to return to work or increase their earnings. We will look at how to abolish the default retirement age, as many older people want to carry on working. And we will force equal pay audits on any company found to be discriminating on the basis of gender.

4) We will reduce welfare dependency
• We will scrap Labour’s failing employment schemes and create a single Work Programme for everyone who is unemployed, including the 2.6 million people claiming Incapacity Benefit who do not get enough help from existing programmes.
• We will reassess all current claimants of Incapacity Benefit. Those found fit for work will be transferred onto Jobseeker’s Allowance. Recipients of Incapacity Benefit who are genuinely disabled will continue to receive the financial support to which they are entitled.
Our Work Programme will:
• offer people targeted, personalised help sooner – straight away for those with serious barriers to work and at six months for those aged under 25;
• be delivered through private and voluntary sector providers, which will be rewarded on a payment by results basis for getting people into sustainable work;
• draw on a range of Service Academies to offer pre-employment training for unemployed people – our first Service Academy, for hospitality and leisure, will provide up to 50,000 training places and work placements;

In the end, it is not the state that creates sustainable employment – it is business people.
And small businesses are especially important to the UK’s economic recovery and to tackling unemployment. Government can help boost enterprise by lowering tax rates, reducing regulation and improving workers’ skills.