In an open letter to the main political parties, business leaders including angel investor Sherry Coutu and Luke Johnson, the former chairman of Pizza Express, have called on MPs to protect the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Entrepreneurs’ Relief.
The EIS provides tax incentives to investors who back smaller companies, while Entrepreneurs’ Relief allows business owners to pay a lower rate of capital gains tax when selling their business.
“We are concerned that recent political rhetoric and public sentiment has pitched the enterprise landscape in terms of ‘small’ versus ‘big’ business and neglected a vital strata of fast-growing businesses that disproportionally contribute to job creation and to the public purse,” says the letter. It has also been signed by Duncan Cheatle, of Prelude Group and Tim Hames, head of the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association.”
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