Confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is at its lowest level since the financial crash of 2011.
That’s according to the findings of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)’s Q4 Small Business Index (SBI), which showed that the SBI confidence measure has fallen to -9.9 this quarter.
This crash in confidence is backed up by an SME Health Check Index, jointly published by the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which showed its confidence indicator plunging by 23 points.
“As things stand, Brexit is absorbing all of the UK’s political bandwidth. Once resolved, we must get back to issues on the domestic agenda: a late payment crisis that destroys 50,000 firms a year, an outdated business rates system and spiralling employment costs.
“Politicians now need to move forward calmly and quickly to resolve this frustrating impasse as the clock continues ticking.”