Business owners lose faith in Gordon Brown's leadership

The number of business owners who feel 'better' today under Gordon Brown's leadership compared to when he first came to power has fallen through the floor as the realities of the recession become more apparent and faith in the PM fades away.

In a survey carried out by telecoms specialists, Unicom, the number of small businesses who think they are better off today than they were 18 months ago when Gordon Brown came to power has plummeted by 69.8%.

Although such a change in sentiment is understandable given the economic downturn, clearly many people believe Brown has had a significant role in the reversal of fortunes we have seen in the UK economy since the summer.

Only 5.2% (12 companies) out of the 230 companies questioned said they felt better, 45.2% (104) said they felt worse, and the remaining 49.6% (114) said they were indifferent to Browns leadership.

Businesses were asked how they anticipated the change in leadership would affect their business; for better, worse or indifferent. The results show a huge decline in confidence for the PM when compared with the same survey conducted back in June 2007 when Gordon Brown came to power.

Those who feel better under his leadership have declined from 17.2% in June 07 to 5.2% today - a fall of 69.8% and those who feel worse has increase from 25.7% in June 07 to 45.2% today - an increase of 75.9%.

"Our customers are a good barometer of small businesses nationally. Gordon Brown's time as Prime minister has been of mixed fortune, but it seems attempts to win back the confidence of small business owners have not been successful," said Chris Earle, Operations Director, Unicom.

"Our survey conducted at the end of November when the government announced a reduction in VAT showed that less than a fifth of business owners felt that the decision to reduce VAT would benefit them, despite the fact that only 26% would be reducing their prices by 2.5%.

"Thanks to a long period of strong economic growth in the UK, a large proportion of small business owners have never had to face the effects of economic slowdown and their confidence during these uncertain times depends heavily on how they judge the competence of the man in charge of the economy."