DAVID WILLIAMS WELCOMES THE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

David Williams, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Crewe and Nantwich, has welcomed the announcement by HM Treasury that £700m will be made available to nearly 3,000 small businesses across the UK.

HM Treasury have announced that £700m of funding from the European Investment Bank will be made available to nearly 3,000 small businesses across the UK, through participating banks.

David Williams said, “Together with a range of other measures being implemented by the Government, this scheme will help to ensure that well managed small businesses in the UK will continue to have access to the best support available.”

Ian Pearson MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury commented, “Support for SMEs is key to driving growth in the UK, so I am delighted that small businesses are benefiting from this finance. This scheme forms part of the Government’s continued commitment to help SMEs access the finance they need to take their businesses forward, which is vital to our long-term growth strategy.”

The Government’s aim of securing £1bn of finance from the European Investment Bank for SMEs has been more than achieved with banks having now secured a total of £1.39bn to help small businesses in the UK.

David Williams said, “There are a large number of small and medium sized enterprises in Crewe and Nantwich and I want to encourage all of them to get in touch with their local banks to find out if they can get access to this funding. It is an easy process and it is certainly worth pursuing.”

John Wright, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said, “The FSB welcomes the news that nearly 3,000 SMEs will benefit from low cost loans. We continue to urge non-participating banks to enter the scheme to make loans available.”

David Williams added, “UK Banks that have been involved in this scheme include the Bank of Scotland (HBOS), Barclays Bank, Close Brothers, Lloyds-TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS including NatWest), Santander UK and Ulster Bank (for Northern Ireland – also part of the RBS Group). I would echo John Wright’s comments and urge other banks to join this scheme. These cheaper simpler and more flexible loans will enable increased investment to expand and I again urge small businesses in Crewe and Nantwich to contact their banks to see if they could benefit from this extra investment.”