Airlink founder: 'I'll take HQ to Zurich if Labour wins'

A BUSINESSMAN behind one of Scotland's fastest-growing private companies has vowed to move his headquarters to Switzerland if Gordon Brown is re-elected as Prime Minister.

John McGlynn, founder and chairman of Paisley-based Airlink group of parking and property companies, also warned that Labour's 1p National Insurance (NI) tax increase would force him to consider job cuts.

McGlynn, who aims to build his business up to 100 million turnover, told Scotland on Sunday: "If Gordon Brown is Prime Minister from 7 May I will have to move somewhere else – Zurich. And there are lots of other businesses that will do the same,"

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"I'm going to have to seriously consider the size of my payroll if I have to pay more employment tax. People may have to lose jobs.

"I fear for Britain's future as a civilised economic society," he added.

McGlynn, who is a Conservative party member, insisted he is not "overtly political" but said he may be driven to campaign for the Tories for the first time this election. "When the Tories screw up I'll be first to criticise," he added.

McGlynn joins a host of business leaders that have come out, in the first week of pre-election campaigning, in favour of the Conservatives. More than 80 UK business leaders have backed Tory plans to cut 12 billion from the Budget as well as forego 5.6bn of revenues expected from Labour's 1p NI increase.

But not all business leaders agree. In a letter published last week, Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life, suggested that Conservative plans to create an additional 12bn of efficiency savings were "incoherent" and could damage economic recovery. Grimstone, who is also an adviser to the Treasury, added that any attempts to nearly double the planned savings already outlined was unrealistic.

John McGuire, managing director of Paisley-based car dealership group Phoenix Car Company, said last night that he remained in favour of Labour's approach to managing the economy. He credited Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling with judicious decisions that allowed his bank – Bank of Scotland – to continue. He also said low interest rates, the government's VAT cut and the car scrappage scheme had contributed to the "best year he ever had" for trading.

McGuire, who employs 500 across 17 Scottish car dealerships, accused David Cameron of "naivety" and ruled out the impact of a rise in NI on his workforce. He said the rise in NI would only impact half of his staff, many of whom were on low wages or were trainees, and would be more equitable that a rise in VAT – which Tory critics have suggested would be the alternative to an NI rise.

"If NI is going to go up that is a fairly big bill for us but I'm happy to pay it," said McGuire. "Broken down individually, (NI] is not a huge amount of money to pay a person. We know a price has to be paid."