Backing Business, Balancing the Books

Marc grew up around a family business. His grandparents built it from nothing and his father runs it today. What made that possible was a stable economy, fair taxation and the freedom to create. It was not government schemes. He has since built his own firm, and he knows from both sides that small businesses do not thrive on regulation. They need low and simple taxes, predictability, and a government that stops rewriting the rules.

Every pound spent on debt interest is a pound not spent on patients or police. Marc believes the deficit should be closed by controlling spending, not by raising taxes, and that welfare is where the discipline has to start. That means strict and honest assessment, conditions that are properly enforced, and a real incentive to get back into work. Welfare should help people help themselves. It should not become a permanent alternative to work.

Locally, independent traders face business rates and employment costs that their online competitors do not, and too many shop units sit empty. Marc wants a tax system that does not penalise taking someone on, rates that reflect what a high street can bear, and taxes that fall on what people earn rather than where they live.

Borrowing today is simply tax deferred onto people too young to vote. Marc thinks that is neither fair nor Conservative.