SMEs: Government must do more to help

The vast majority of small businesses believe that the government is not doing enough to help them through the financial crisis.

According to a study by the business portal cmypitch.com, 77% of small enterprises think the government should be doing more to ease the burden of the credit crunch and incoming recession.

Relaxation of lending criteria and the adoption of interest rate cuts are just two of the things that small firms believe the government should force the banking sector to do.

"There's been a lot of talk from all parties on what government should be doing to support small businesses," said Emmett Kilduff, chief executive of cmypitch.com.

"This shows very clearly that more help is needed in the form of tax breaks or financial support."

A quarter of the businesses that took part in the poll also believed that relief on VAT and national insurance would help boost the economy.

Last week, the market watcher KPMG encouraged small firms to claim tax rebates on research and development spending.