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General Election 2017: SMEs and startups split as the UK heads to the polls

The UK electorate heads to the polls today following a tumultuous seven week campaign with a flurry of opinion polls late Wednesday suggesting the Conservative Party were still on course to trump Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.

Polls placed the Tory lead over Labour as high as 12 points according to ICM to as low as a single point according to figures from Survation, with variations derived from different methodologies and assumed turn-out.

At the heart of it all some key questions remain: will the Labour surge of the last few weeks carry to the ballot box? Will youth turnout, a key component of Labour’s support, be higher than 2015? Will Theresa May and the Tories snag the increased majority they were banking on when the election was originally called back in April?

These and the many other question marks hanging over the election will only begin to be revealed in light of the first exit polls at 10pm this evening and as the results begin to trickle in over night.

What do businesses think?

Policies such as corporation tax, Brexit and employment issues are likely to be some of the central issues on the minds of businesses owners, both big and small, when they head out to put their cross in the box today.

For larger businesses and corporates, Corbyn’s plans to increase corporation tax to 26% and the proposed ‘excessive pay levy’ have hardly enamoured the party to big business.

The Tories on the other hand, traditionally considered far more business-friendly of course, have pledged to stick to their plans to reduce corporation tax to 17% and lower the income tax threshold for the higher rate tax band to £50,000.

While the contrasting manifestos might make the decision a no-brainer for the UK’s larger companies, the latest poll of UK SMEs and startups by Startups.co.uk suggests that opinion is more broadly split for the country’s smaller firms.

Reflecting national opinion polls, the website’s survey of 1,500 UK businesses has found that 39% believe that the Conservatives are the best party for business compared to 35% of company founders who backed Labour’s business proposals.

While still putting the Tories as favourites, the figures, in combination with the national polls, highlight the remarkable turnaround for the Labour Party, whose polling was in the doldrums as little as four or five weeks ago.

It would still take a brave individual to bet against anything other than a Tory majority as the ultimate outcome of this election, but there is little doubt that tonight could potentially be a bumpy ride for Ms. May and her party.

Bdaily’s regional roundups

General Election 2017: A roundup of North East business aspirationsGeneral Election 2017: North West business leaders give their hopes and predictionsGeneral Election 2017: Business leaders of Yorkshire give their final viewsGeneral Election 2017: London businesses tell us what’s on their mind as they head to the ballot box