John Donald’s cautious welcome for cuts in red tape but he’s not flying high just yet

FOR John Donald, who employs three people at his small manufacturing firm in East Lothian, employment law and health and safety regulations are a time-consuming hindrance.

He therefore welcomed Chancellor George Osborne’s proposal to cut the amount of red tape facing SMEs but will reserve full judgment until he sees what actually changes.

“It all sounds great but we’ll wait and see what it adds up to in practice,” said Donald, whose firm Robop makes robotic falcons to scare off other birds. “What was laudable was the government seems to want to help smaller businesses which is a great start but I’m not sure they really know what a small business is.”

For example, he believes the £40 billion credit-easing scheme to reduce the cost of finance for SMEs will have little effect for most small companies as they are often borrowing minuscule amounts.

The real question is whether they can secure finance in the first place, he said, and that depends on the banks.

However, he is hopeful that the government will come good on its promise of simplifying red tape for small business.

“It’s often not the spirit of the regulation but complicated language and the whole culture built up around it that is the big issue.”