Labour set to cut red tape strangling small business

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Labour Party will up its attempts to win over British business with a report this week that recommends vastly improved broadband access, establishing export hubs and cutting red tape.

The report has been drawn up by Labour's Small Business Taskforce, which had been led by celebrated buyout baron and Nottingham Forest owner Sir Nigel Doughty until his death at just 54 last year. Bill Thomas, the former senior vice-president at Hewlett Packard, took over the taskforce which is finally expected to publish its findings in the week.

These proposals are expected to form the basis of the business policies for Labour's 2015 general election manifesto. The taskforce will argue that it is a real problem for businesses that it can take them more than a month to receive broadband after ordering internet connection – regulator Ofcom would be asked to investigate whether waiting times could be reduced to just one week for 90 per cent of businesses.

At a small business event with Labour leader Ed Miliband in Brixton, south London, tonight, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, left, will say: "As the Small Business Taskforce report identifies, we need a new approach to regulation which demands better quality, as well as reducing the quantity of regulation."