24/05/00 - Labour Party bad for business: Chris writes to The Birmingham Post

Sir, - Labour is undoubtedly bad for business in the West Midlands.

The very fact that no senior member of the present Government has ever run a business should be a cause for very real concern to industrialists in the region.

By contrast the leader of the Opposition, William Hague, was brought up in a small family business and worked in business consultancy before entering Parliament.

Archie Norman, the Conservative front-bench spokesman, is a highly-respected businessman who turned round the ailing Asda supermarket chain.

Labour ministers, on the other hand, simply do not understand how business works, as has been shown by the explosion in red tape and bureaucracy over the last three years.

At the same time, businesses have suffered from increased levels of burglary. Local business premises are increasingly being targeted by criminals and yet, for all the tough talk from the Home Office, nothing is being done on the ground to reverse this alarming trend.

Profitable business cannot be conducted in an atmosphere of fear of crime.

Despite the shortage of business experience around the Cabinet table, there is no lack of legal expertise - the Prime Minister himself comes from a legal background.

The problem is that the left-wing legal mindset casts the criminal as the victim rather than the law abiding businessman or citizen.

It is time that this Government got tough on crime and the causes of crime as they promised the electorate over three years ago. The Conservatives know that being tough on crime is more than just an empty slogan and are putting forward common sense proposals to tackle the growing culture of lawlessness.

The business community can feel reassured that at least one party is listening to its concerns.

CHRIS D KELLY
Tettenhall,
Wolverhampton.