The Federation of Small Businesses believe that excessive regulation and a lack of skilled employees are the biggest obstacles to small firms. Almost half of those businesses polled said that they had increased their workforce in the past two years, and around 25% of these said that they encountered skills barriers when trying to recruit new staff, such as literacy, numeracy, technical skills or communication skills.
More than half of those who took part in the survey said that there had been an increase in the time that they spent on regulation, and were unhappy with how complex it can be.
Our view
EU Regulations have contributed much to the red tape. The 'bug' is that the UK is fervent in its enforcement of these laws whereas some of our friends overseas are less strict with enforcement. This gives a competitive edge to our competitors across the Channel.