West Midlands Business failure up 40%

9.36.25am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th Nov 2003

Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands, called for more to be done to help small businesses.

She was speaking after the latest figures published yesterday by the Bank of England revealed that West Midlands business failures were up by 40% between 1997 and 2002 and have been growing by a further 7.9% in the first three quarters of 2003.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and yet we see them going to the wall," said Liz Lynne.

"We need to make sure that businesses have a break from red tape whether it be from Brussels or Westminster. Before legislation is brought forward the impact on small businesses must be properly assessed. If we don't cut some of this burden we could see even more businesses collapse under the weight."

Related Links:

Bank of England.

Bank of England's Quarterly Report on Small Business Statistics (Acrobat File).