New measures to tackle the productivity gap with Britain's major competitors were set out yesterday by Chancellor Gordon Brown, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt, and Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris:
- reform of the UK's competition regime;
- a Capital Gains Tax regime that is overall more favorable to
enterprise than that of the USA; - modernisation of insolvency laws with abolition of Crown Preference;
- better tax treatment for share options, extending Enterprise Management Incentives to larger companies;
- a Green Paper, later this year, on reforming the planning system;
- a review of the long-term retail savings industry led by Ron Sandler;
- a review of the role of enterprise and business in education led by Sir Howard Davies;
- new measures to help small businesses grow, including extension of the 10p corporation tax rate and help with VAT compliance;
- a review of payroll services to small business;
- a review of DTI's support to business, starting with industrial manufacturing;
- targets for each of the English regional venture capital funds.
The full text of the Chancellor's speech follows
When four years a
