Liberal Democrats, Green Party or Brexit Party: Which Party is Best for Your Business?

The UK General Election on December 12 is fast approaching, and with so much noise surrounding political parties and their manifestos or “promises” it can be hard to understand what the next government may do for your business.

With that in mind, we’ve broken down the manifestos of the Lib Dems, Green Party, and the Brexit Party to find out what could happen to businesses post-election.

Liberal Democrats

Jo Swinson’s party’s main aim is to stop Brexit in its tracks and build a brighter future for Britain. The Lib Dems believe business can be a force for good in the economy – when utilized correctly.

The party claims it will reform fiduciary duty and company purpose rules to ensure all large companies have a formal statement of corporate purpose, including considerations on employee welfare, community benefit and ethical practice, alongside benefit to shareholders.

Employees will also play a bigger role in business by strengthening worker participation in decision-making, including staff representation on remuneration committees. Similarly, all UK-listed companies and all private companies with more than 250 employees will be required to have at least one employee representative on their boards with the same legal duties and responsibilities as other directors.

The party promises to make sure the tax system is fair to all by ensuring big businesses pay their share, supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises and ensuring income earned from wealth is taxed exactly the same as income from employment.

They plan to:

• Restore Corporation Tax to 20 percent
• Tax income from capital more fairly compared to income from work by abolishing the separate Capital Gains Tax-free allowance to tax capital gains and salaries through a single allowance
• Simplify business taxation to lower administration costs – thereby looking out for smaller businesses – and minimize the opportunities for tax avoidance

The party vows to take tough action against corporate tax evasion and avoidance by:

• Introducing a General Anti-Avoidance Rule, setting a target for HM Revenue and Customs to reduce the tax gap and investing in more staff to enable them to meet it
• Improving the Digital Services Tax to ensure tech giants pay their fair share

The party aims to modernise employment rights for the modern age, by setting a 20 percent higher minimum wage for people on zero-hour contracts at times of normal demand to compensate for uncertainty of working hours.

Green Party

The Green Party’s manifesto is all about making things fairer for the public, with the opening line of their manifesto being, ‘If not now, when?’

They want to:

• Simplify taxes and close loopholes to make sure everyone pays their fair share
• Redesign the way property and land are taxed, shifting responsibility away from renters and business tenants towards wealthy landowners benefiting from the system
• Tax income from investments/assets at the same level as the taxation of income from work through Consolidated Income Tax (merging Employees National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax, Dividend Tax and Income Tax into the new single tax)

The Greens aim to increase Corporation Tax to 24 percent in line with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to ensure businesses and organizations are taxed with justice. This raise from 14 percent tax will ensure overseas companies like Amazon and Google don’t exploit tax loopholes anymore.

The party hopes to invoke a small business revolution by giving small businesses access to affordable lending rates through establishing a network of regional banks to provide funding for locally led economic initiatives and opportunities.

Similarly, they will grant 15 percent of government contracts to small and micro businesses by revising the government contract application process and removing current barriers for entry to small business.

Brexit Party

Described as a promise to the people, the Brexit party has a number of policies they think will benefit businesses in Britain.

The Brexit party will enforce zero rate Corporation Tax for the first £10,000 of pre-tax profits.

UK businesses such as farmers, fisheries, universities and research bodies will maintain subsidies and grants paid by the EU. The party also says it will reduce import tariffs to zero on certain foods, footwear and clothing.

One main point is the party’s desire to create freeports in certain regions to encourage investment and create new jobs. They will overhaul financial services regulations, increase competition and boost lending to small and medium enterprises.

All of these promises hope to attract investment and jobs through targeted incentives to drive growth.

Labour v. Tories: Which Party Is Best for Your Business?