Reducing the burden of red tape for the UK’s SMEs should be a top priority for the next government, according to a survey conducted by GE Capital. 91% of respondents said that it should be a priority for the new administration.

The findings, which are based on interviews with the owners and managers of 500 UK SMEs, show that, beyond ensuring favourable economic conditions, the vast majority (91%) of owners and managers put reducing red tape as their highest priority for an incoming Government to address.

This was followed by a desire to see an improvement in the basic skills of prospective employees (75%), which is particularly pertinent given that SMEs are expected to be the employment growth engine as the economy starts to recover and nearly one in five (17%) say that being able to find skilled employees is one of their biggest barriers to growth.

John Jenkins, CEO of GE Capital in the UK, said: “Irrespective of who wins the election it is clear that firms need further help from Government to get on with the task of growing their business rather than having to deal with unnecessary and burdensome bureaucracy.””