![\"Burnham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/New-houses-Wetherby.jpg\")
New houses going up in Wetherby, Yorkshire. Image: Duncan Cuthbertson | Dreamstime.com<\/p>\n\nIf the next prime minister needs allies in boosting growth, building homes and getting NEETs into work, nearly a million are itching to help.\n<\/p>\n
New houses going up in Wetherby, Yorkshire. Image: Duncan Cuthbertson | Dreamstime.com<\/p>\n
Most construction companies in the UK are small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs \u2013 885,000 according to one recent count<\/a>.<\/p>\n They do the lion\u2019s share of hiring, training and physical construction work.<\/p>\n If Andy Burnham or whoever becomes the next prime minister is serious about building homes and infrastructure, getting NEETs<\/a> into work and growing the economy, they should see these companies as one of the top allies available among all sectors.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent years sitting across the table from hundreds of them. I\u2019ve seen what helps businesses grow and, more importantly, what slowly breaks them.<\/p>\n So, here are eight of the most urgent actions the next PM could take to unshackle this powerhouse.<\/p>\n \n1. Cut corporation tax for construction SMEs\n<\/p>\n Right now, SMEs pay 19% on profits up to \u00a350,000, hit marginal relief, then it\u2019s 25% above \u00a3250,000. So a business making \u00a349,000 in profit pays 19%. Push it to \u00a351,000 and you\u2019re suddenly in the marginal relief band, which creates a disproportionate tax charge, punishing growth.<\/p>\n My fix would be a flat 15% rate for all construction SMEs with revenue under \u00a310m. It would be one of the lowest in the EU and would attract investors who want to set up UK businesses. This way, a business would make profit, pay 15%, and be able to reinvest the rest into people, equipment and contracts.<\/p>\n The government collects low amounts of tax now because businesses are structuring themselves to avoid the 25% band. With this simple change, they\u2019d grow instead of hedging.<\/p>\n \n2. Restore meaningful Business Asset Disposal Relief\n<\/p>\n Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) used to be called Entrepreneurs\u2019 Relief and was designed to reward people who built businesses and exited cleanly with a 10% tax charge.<\/p>\n The government then changed this to BADR and rates rose from 10% to 14% in April 2025, then to 18% in April 2026.<\/p>\n So, a business owner selling their company for \u00a31m now pays \u00a3180,000 in capital gains tax instead of \u00a3100,000. Above \u00a31m, current rates are 24%.<\/p>\n This is effectively an 80% increase in tax on the same transaction, which punishes entrepreneurship instead of encouraging it.<\/p>\n My fix would be to restore the 10% rate for qualifying business sales and extend the lifetime limit from \u00a31m to \u00a35m. This would allow a construction business owner who\u2019s spent 30 years building something valuable to exit with enough capital to retire properly, or to reinvest in the next generation of businesses.<\/p>\n \n3. Bring proper Employee Ownership Trusts back\n<\/p>\n They allowed business owners to sell to their employees, distribute wealth across the team and exit with full capital gains tax relief: ie zero tax.<\/p>\n Then the government decided it was too expensive, so from November 2025, only 50% of the gain is now exempt.<\/p>\n My fix would be to restore the 100% capital gains exemption for EOT successions, but cap it at \u00a33m per business owner.<\/p>\n This keeps the incentive strong for genuine succession planning whilst controlling the cost to the Treasury. Business owners get a clean exit, employees get ownership, and the business stays intact.<\/p>\n \n4. Attract major development investment\n<\/p>\n Capital goes where it\u2019s treated well and right now, the UK is not competitive.<\/p>\n If an investor is deciding between, for example, the UK, Ireland or Singapore, they\u2019re comparing corporation tax rates, capital gains treatment and regulatory burden. The UK loses on all three counts.<\/p>\n To attract capital for large-scale housing, infrastructure and energy projects, I\u2019d offer a 10% corporation tax rate for companies investing more than \u00a310m into UK construction projects.<\/p>\n And how about a five-year capital gains tax holiday for investors who fund residential developments that deliver more than 100 homes, plus accelerated depreciation on plant, machinery and equipment used in major infrastructure builds?<\/p>\n The UK needs tax incentives that make investors say, \u201cI\u2019d be stupid not to put my money there\u201d.<\/p>\n Right now, they\u2019re saying the opposite.<\/p>\n SME lending is broken. Construction SME lending itself fell 20% between 2016 and 2024. Development finance dropped 48%, removing nearly \u00a35bn from the market. Loan rejection rates increased from 5-10% historically to 43% in 2022-23.<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s loan guarantee scheme is three to four times smaller than comparable programmes in the US, France and Germany.<\/p>\n Current lending requirements in the UK generally demand personal guarantees that wipe out business owners if a contract goes wrong \u2013 and they take roughly six months to approve a loan that\u2019s needed in six weeks. That\u2019s even if they get approved at all.<\/p>\n I would fix this by basing lending decisions on contracted revenue and not historical profit. If a construction business has \u00a32m in signed contracts, lend against that pipeline.<\/p>\n Remove personal guarantees for loans under \u00a3500,000 backed by government schemes and approve or reject applications within two weeks, not two quarters.<\/p>\n Finance should follow viable businesses and real contracts and the biggest problem now is that it follows bureaucracy.<\/p>\n \n6. Inspire a new generation\n<\/p>\n Construction represents 16% of all UK SMEs, the largest sector ahead of professional services and wholesale. Yet young people think construction means hard hats and mud. They don\u2019t see the technology, the earning potential or the career progression.<\/p>\n A national campaign should showcase construction business owners who\u2019ve built wealth to help glamorise the sector. Feature 25-year-olds running site operations, managing teams and earning \u00a360,000-plus. Highlight the tech innovations such as drones, BIM software, offsite manufacturing and robotics<\/a>.<\/p>\n The government would fund the campaign, with the support of trade bodies and construction firms to provide the case studies and work placements. Recruitment is not a taxpayer responsibility in the long term, but helping to seed the pipeline of staff and careers is.<\/p>\n