THE EU is continuing to wreak misery on British small businesses, Nigel Farage said yesterday.
The Reform chief warned that reams of red tape, left over from Brussels and imposed by regulators, are suffocating firms.
It came as Mr Farage unveiled a Small Business for Reform working group and revealed Checkatrade founder Kevin Byrne will help to steer it.
Speaking before a crowd of around 300 entrepreneurs in Westminster, Mr Farage said: “I do think that the EU, its rules and regs – but also the way ex-PM Tony Blair fundamentally changed the way the country’s run, by taking enormous powers away from elected ministers and politicians and handing it over to quangos and regulators – has made the life of small businesses much, much harder.
“So there is much to do in this country.”
The Brexiteer refused to re-commit to his promise at last year’s election to slash taxes for small businesses.
But he hinted that the VAT threshold would be raised under Reform plans.
He said: “The VAT threshold is far too low and it’s one heck of a burden.”
Mr Farage led the charge, saying the BBC’s licence fee telly tax “cannot survive” and is “wholly unsustainable”.
The Beeb’s chair, Samir Shah, and other top brass rejected claims of systemic bias in its news reporting.
But, in Westminster, Reform leader Mr Farage claimed the Beeb has been “institutionally biased for decades”.
He argued the corporation should be “slimmed down” to focus on news, and that in sport and entertainment it should “compete” via subscriptions.
Mr Farage said: “When it comes to entertainment, when it comes to sport and mayn (should read as ‘many’?) other areas like that – well, they should compete against everyone else for a subscription model.”
