This week’s Budget has clearly got to be focussed on stimulating the private sector and on putting in place the right conditions for business to prosper. This is more about government getting out of the way and creating the climate in which businesses can grow, than providing handouts and churning out ‘initiatives’. There’s no shortage of areas to attack but for a start the Chancellor should:

(1)  Reduce red tape, particularly in small companies employing less than 10 people. Scrap or delay any new legislation and provide companies with a single, named point of contact for all dealings with HMRC.

(2)  Stop taxing success. Put down a marker to scrap the 50pc tax rate by 2013/14. When asked how he had arrived at the new top rate for those earning £150,000 a year and above, Alistair Darling said: “There is no science behind it. It’s simply my judgement that I thought that figure was an appropriate one”. It won’t raise any money, and for a country desperate to encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise it sends out all the wrong signals.

(3)  Support lending by individuals to small businesses by making their interest tax-free. We need to encourage risk taking in start up companies, not hamper growth through punitive taxes.

(4)  Scrap the 2011 National Insurance Rise, a tax on jobs. Although the increase will be less than Labour’s original proposals, employers of higher paid employees will still see a rise in NI contributions.

(5)  Abandon or significantly reduce aviation duty. According to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Air Passenger Duty (APD) “will seriously frustrate the introduction of new air links between the Midlands and potential new markets across the world”. Britain charges the highest rate of aviation tax in Europe with many countries having abolished it altogether. According to the Chamber, recent rises in APD will result in us forgoing 18,000 jobs and £750m of wealth.

The government needs to be about more than just cutting the deficit. Next week’s budget is the opportunity for the Coalition to demonstrate that not all political parties are the same, and that it is Conservatives who are unashamedly on the side of the ‘go-getters’ and wealth creators. Getting behind the Britain’s entrepeneurs really is our only hope for growth.