Like Jeremiah

It is hard enough starting a new business. Many people have preconceived ideas of what business people should be like and if you don't fit their idea you stand a good chance of not being accepted by them. Since the 'enterprise culture' was created in the 1980's millions of ordinary people have tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to start businesses. Every year millions of people register for VAT and every year millions of people deregister. In 2006, 182.2 registered and 143.1 deregistered. It has been a familiar pattern since 1996. Before that it was more pronounced. It seems to suggest that most new businesses fail. It is in fact the accepted doctrine. There are of course ways get round it and to succeed and to prolong the life of a business beyond that immediately apparent to those in that precarious position. There has in fact been a 21% rise in VAT registrations during the period between 1995 and the start of 2007. So it is not all doom and gloom. The largest increases have been in business services. The largest fall in deregistrations was wholesale, retail and repairs. The largest increase in deregistrations was agriculture an industry which has been in decline for some time. Only agriculture and manufacturing saw a fall in the stock of VAT registered business in 2006. All others saw an increase. The fall in VAT registered business in agriculture and manufacturing must be reversed. Some people have been warning about these continued deregistrations for years. No one likes to see it some don't even like to hear about it. There have been opportunites to reverse it but the political will was lacking. However it is still difficult for 'ordinary' people from 'ordinary' backgrounds to start a business or get a foot on the farming or business ladder.