Small businesses fear hung parliament, report shows

Date: 5th May 2010

An online poll has revealed that decision makers of smaller UK businesses feel a hung parliament would be the worst possible outcome of tomorrow's (May 6th) election.

The YouGov survey, conducted for online marketing agency Amaze, has revealed that 36 per cent of smaller firms feel the result would be the worst possible outcome for the country's economy.

One-third said the result would "reduce or delay" investment into their businesses.

By way of contrast, more than half of those asked said a Conservative government would be best for the economy as a whole.

A further 27 per cent said a victory for the Labour party would be most likely to lead to job cuts within their company.

Amaze's Godfrey Taylor said: "We set out to investigate the attitudes of smaller businesses to the possibility of a hung parliament from a business viewpoint, but found strong support for the Conservatives.

"In addition to this we also carried out detailed online analysis of attitudes towards a hung parliament. The results revealed a lot of online activity around the effect on interest rates and the perceived weakness of a hung parliament."

Posted by Anthony Burns