Tag Archives: small business

LibLink: Christine Jardine..A coffee with a sweeter taste

Christine Jardine was until this Summer a Liberal Democrat Special Adviser at the heart of Government. She is now back working full time in politics in Scotland and writing occasionally for the Scotsman.

This week she’s turned her attention to the fact that large corporations like Starbucks don’t pay tax in the UK and reflects on the good that local, independent coffee shops bring to the community:

As I sat there enjoying my Americano, eyeing up the chocolate cake and cinnamon swirls, I began to think about the value that the entrepreneur behind the counter had brought to my community.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | Leave a comment

Opinion: Deregulate Sunday trading to go for growth

The Coalition needs to get over its obsession with small businesses – and deregulate Sunday trading
With the recent fragility of the Coalition, it’s easy to forget that the Lib Dems do agree with the Tories on some issues. If we didn’t, it would have been impossible to forge a workable government in the first place. Mounting instability over constitutional reform makes it all the more important that the two parties can work together where their philosophies do align. One of those areas is economic and regulatory policy. Despite some notable blind spots, the Conservatives do share our belief in the strength of the free market to provide long-run economic growth. While many regulations are necessary and right, the Coalition should be able to work together in order to eliminate arbitrary and damaging rules that distort rather than level the economic playing field.

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 55 Comments



Recent Comments

  • User AvatarEwan Hoyle 23rd May - 5:19pm
    Lester I think you underestimate how essential media coverage was to their likely plan. If they had known that media coverage would have been absolutely...
  • User AvatarEwan Hoyle 23rd May - 5:12pm
    Lucas, I accept that your answer to the question is an emphatic NO, but I believe the government have at least a duty to inform...
  • User Avatarmatt 23rd May - 5:06pm
    The only censorship that should have occurred, should have been Blurring out the image of the terrorist from the neck down, so as to spare...
  • User AvatarCaron Lindsay 23rd May - 4:52pm
    Do you think Ajmal would write for us, Lester?
  • User AvatarJoe Otten 23rd May - 4:50pm
    This is a very welcome and important initiative, though I don't doubt the difficulty it faces in overcoming protectionist forces on both sides of the...
Sun 26th May 2013
Tue 28th May 2013
Wed 29th May 2013
Thu 30th May 2013
Fri 31st May 2013
Sat 1st Jun 2013
10:00
Mon 3rd Jun 2013
Thu 6th Jun 2013
Fri 7th Jun 2013
Sat 8th Jun 2013
Sun 9th Jun 2013
Thu 13th Jun 2013
Sat 15th Jun 2013
Tue 18th Jun 2013
Thu 20th Jun 2013