Mr President, could I add my congratulations to Mr Harrison and Mrs Thyssen for the clear analysis of the importance of small businesses and a clear programme of practical assistance. Others have given detailed statistics, but it is quite clear that small businesses are major employers, a major area of job growth, but also of job losses, and all MEPs must know this. You only need to walk down any high street or any industrial estate to see physically the number of businesses that have failed.
Could I say that I found Mr Cassidy's remarks almost incomprehensible. If he is really saying that the British Government has lost its grip on its own civil service, then perhaps it should add this to the list of other areas of public life over which it has lost control. Could I invite Mr Cassidy to come to my own constituency of Nottingham and North-West Leicestershire and see the efforts that counties and districts have made in partnership with the private sector, not in opposition, to bring work, employment and support to these small industries.
Of course we must try to reduce the burdens, but what Mr Harrison and Mrs Thyssen have done is provide positive programmes of assistance to these businesses to help them with their responsibilities. There are programmes, and although Mr Harrison is quite right in saying that many of these businesses grow into bigger organizations and provide much-needed work, many others go bankrupt. They need access to finance. They need access to European Information Centres. I am glad that there are new proposals for strengthening these, strengthening their specialisms and strengthening the exchange of information. But what we need above all in this Parliament, and this is an important step in tackling the problem, is to look at what governments should do at local, regional, national and European level to give SMEs the support they badly need. They do feel the warmth of the sun, but they also feel the chill winds. These reports go a considerable way towards laying the foundation for a healthy small and medium-sized enterp
rise economy.
