Warning: Homeserve founder Richard Harpin
A leading businessman has called on the government to take action in the upcoming autumn statement to ease a number of ‘bottlenecks’ in the economy that he says are holding entrepreneurs back.
Richard Harpin, the founder of home repair company Homeserve, said business owners are “the fuel that drives our economy forward” and that Britain needed to “break out of the low growth trap and set conditions” to accelerate growth.
Ahead of the autumn declaration, due on November 22, Harpin said the government must end the freeze on the turnover a company must generate before it can register for VAT.
He described the level, which was frozen at £85,000 in 2017 and will not end until 2026, as a “cliff edge” that was pushing companies to limit their revenues when they should be given incentives that encourage them to aim higher.
Harpin, who made around £500 million last year when he sold Homeserve to a private equity firm for more than £4 billion, has also called on officials to make it more attractive for companies to invest in Britain.
Other proposals include improving skills training for workers and expanding existing business lending and improvement programs.
“The impact of local entrepreneurs on GDP has decreased by one percent compared to the same period last year,” Harpin said.
He added: ‘To reverse this trend, we must turn up the heat and accelerate our ambitious vision for boosting British entrepreneurship.’