Clearing the Way for Growth – Tom Gordon backs the Lib Dem campaign to ‘axe 100 pieces of red tape’ and get Britain growing again

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has joined party spokesperson for Investment and Trade, Joshua Reynolds as he launched a major campaign aimed at unleashing the potential of British businesses and supercharging economic growth - by cutting at least 100 pieces of red tape.

The “Clearing the Way for Growth” campaign will see Liberal Democrat MPs across the country hosting roundtable discussions with local SMEs and business leaders in their region, to identify administrative and compliance burdens that are stifling growth.

The sessions will form the evidence base for Liberal Democrats to advocate practical cost-saving measures that will have real-world impact for consumers and businesses – especially small and medium-sized firms.

Tom Gordon will be hosting a roundtable for businesses across Yorkshire and the North East later this summer.

The party said the aim of the campaign is to draw up 100 measures that would cut, consolidate and streamline regulations and reporting requirements, to unleash UK business growth, while safeguarding consumer protections, workers rights and our ability to do business with our biggest trading partners in Europe.

Joshua Reynolds said the campaign is all about cutting bureaucratic deadweight that costs businesses time and money, not removing protections that matter.

The campaign launch comes a week after the Liberal Democrats announced bold plans to boost trade with Europe, including joining the Single Market and a customs union, to tear up paperwork and burdensome border checks.

Previous Liberal Democrat analysis based on research by the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade found that Brexit has created nearly two billion extra pieces of paperwork for British businesses - enough to wrap around the world 15 times.

Tom Gordon MP said: “Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and our biggest growth engine, in Harrogate and Knaresborough and across the region.”

"British businesses are not struggling because they lack ambition or talent. They are struggling because the system keeps getting in the way. This campaign is all about changing that."

Joshua Reynolds MP said: “It’s no wonder that economic growth has eluded both the current Labour and previous Conservative Governments, who hit our businesses with unfair tax rises and piled mountains of paperwork and red tape on them."

“The country needs to be enabling businesses to fill in orders and find more clients; instead the Government leaves them filling in forms and facing a maze of complex rules. This can’t go on and Liberal Democrats are driving that change.”