The EDM says:

"This House notes the Government's plans to reverse its tax treatment of owner managed businesses; is deeply concerned that this could result in severe financial hardship for thousands of family businesses and thus damage enterprise; asks the Chancellor to explain why his tax incentives went wrong; and urges him to meet with and consult small business representatives prior to the Budget."

There are currently 716 EDMs in circulation in Parliament. In terms of signatures, the IR591 EDM is in the top 100 (93rd). However, many of these are open-ended in terms of time and have been running for months, whereas time is limited with Mark Prisk's EDM as it was introduced at the end of January and needs signatures prior to the Budget (March 17) when the Chancellor is expected to announce his plans to ensure small businesses plan the right amount of tax.

Shout99 network
Members of the Shout99 network have been using the 'FaxYourMP' facility to contact their MPs.

You can not assume that your MP will be aware of this from other sources. It takes a few seconds to follow the link in the article below to send a fax to ask your MP to represent the views of small business in their community and add their name.

Action Call: Your chance to push for Rethink on IR591

Who has signed?
The list of MPs who have so far added their names in support of small businesses in their constituency are:

Conservative Party - 57
Amess/David
Atkinson/Peter
Bellingham/Henry
Blunt/Crispin
Boswell/Tim
Bottomley/Virginia
Brazier/Julian
Cameron/David
Davis/David
Djanogly/Jonathan
Duncan/Peter
Fabricant/Michael
Flight/Howard
Flook/Adrian
Garnier/Edward
Gillan/Cheryl
Goodman/Paul
Gray/James
Grieve/Dominic
Hammond/Philip
Heald/Oliver
Horam/John
Key/Robert
Letwin/Oliver
MacKay/Andrew
Malins/Humfrey
Mates/Michael
McIntosh/Anne
Moss/Malcolm
Murrison/Andrew
O'Brien/Stephen
Osborne/George
Page/Richard
Paice/James
Prisk/Mark
Randall/John
Redwood/John
Roe/Marion
Ruffley/David
Sayeed/Jonathan
Selous/Andrew
Soames/Nicholas
Spicer/Michael
Spink/Bob
Swayne/Desmond
Swire/Hugo
Syms/Robert
Taylor/Ian [R]
Taylor/John
Walter/Robert
Watkinson/Angela
Whittingdale/John
Wiggin/Bill
Wilkinson/John
Wilshire/David
Winterton/Ann
Winterton/Nicholas

Democratic Unionist Party - 2
Campbell/Gregory
Robinson/Iris

Independent - 1
Taylor/Richard

Independent Conservative - 1
Hunter/Andrew

Labour Party - 5
Dobbin/Jim
Edwards/Huw
Hamilton/Fabian
Pollard/Kerry
Vis/Rudi

Liberal Democrats - 4
Breed/Colin
Hancock/Mike
Jones/Nigel
Sanders/Adrian

Scottish National Party - 1
Robertson/Angus

Ulster Unionist Party - 3
Beggs/Roy
Burnside/David
Smyth/Martin

Last week's list is available of Shout99 here: IR591 Petition - has your MP signed yet?

What can you do?
All small businesses can play a part in making this a successful motion by encouraging as many MPs as possible to sign. The more signatures, the greater the pressure on the Chancellor to take notice.

However, time is short on this as the Budget is scheduled for March 17, 2004. For more information and how you can make a difference by contacting your MP click on:

Action Call: Your chance to push for Rethink on IR591

That article contains a link to 'FaxYourMP' - a simple online process which identifies who your MP is from your postcode and provides a facility to fax him or her directly.

News on IR591
Shout99 has a free news and information resource about IR591 which is accessible to anyone by clicking on:

http://www.shout99.com/ir591

If you know other freelancers or small businesses who would be interested in encouraging their MP to represent their concerns about IR591, you can forward this article to them by using the 'Email A Friend' box below.

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Susie Hughes © Shout99.com 2004