The Chancellor issues his pre budget statement next week, and given the way the economy has stalled since the summer it is inevitable that he will be looking to find initiatives that can help to stimulate and get UK PLC moving again.

The crisis in the Euro Zone makes his task all the more difficult, with uncertainty and a lack of confidence the two major barriers to business investment and growth.

While Angela Merkel fiddles and Rome burns, that uncertainty and lack of confidence looks set to continue, but if we accept that the treasury has no money to play with, just what can George Osborne practically do?

For political reasons, we can rule out a change to the top rate of tax. Equally, there is no chance of a review of his spending plans, with politicians from across the party spectrum now reaching the conclusion that a signal to the markets suggesting that the government were not serious about cutting the deficit would see us head towards the Greek tragedy scenario. That is not to say that the cuts have been fairly distributed across the country, but the basis of the coalitions economic plan is the only game in town right now.

For me, Osborne needs to do look at measures that will help the SME market. This is where jobs will be created in the future. He indicated at his party conference here in Manchester in the autumn that he would be looking to establish an ‘access to finance’ fund for small firms. We need to hear the detail.

If exporting is a key component of getting the UK back on track, then he should be offering tax breaks and incentives to our exporters. Funding for apprenticeships has increased, can he do more? He can also announce what he plans to spend on infrastructure projects during this parliament and flesh out the details of the heavily trailed changes to employment law. One other thing he could do is give business owners some comfort in respect of HMRI. Never has there been a time when we have had so many complaints about the aggressive nature of the approach from the revenue.

None of these measures impact on his spending plans. Cash rich or not, the Chancellor still has options.    

You can hear the reaction of Frank McKenna and a panel of entrepreneurs to the Chancellor’s Pre Budget statement at the next Downtown Manchester in Business event. CLICK HERE for details

Amongst all the doom, gloom and despondency of the past few months, including particularly depressing unemployment figures that were announced this week, 200 delegates from across the North West gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Liverpool, for the Downtown Business Conference on Monday to kick off Global Enterprise Week.

Of course there was talk of the difficulties and challenges that are being faced in both the private and public sectors. Inevitably, the Shadow Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves MP complained about the speed with which the coalition government is cutting public expenditure and called on a Plan ‘B’ to be adopted by the Chancellor.

Both Liverpool City Council Leader Joe Anderson and the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council Sir Howard Bernstein explained how tough they had found it to find the savings demanded from them by central government.

And, from the business community, expressions of dissatisfaction about a raft of issues, most notably red tape, bureaucracy and the HMRI!

But, despite all of this, most delegates left the conference on Monday evening with a spring in their step, having heard a series of presentations from senior decision makers, business leaders and entrepreneurs that proclaimed a ‘can do’ attitude.

The CEO of Philadelphia’s Business Improvement District (BID) Paul Levy was uplifting in his description of how his city had been transformed from a declining place to a thriving city through a series of effective though relatively simple initiatives.

Sir Howard and Joe Anderson outlined their plans to introduce business support and business friendly policies o ensure that Liverpool and Manchester do not suffer a recurrence of the worst ravages that hit both cities in the eighties. Entrepreneurs Steve Morgan, Tony Caldeira, Natalie Haywood, Gavin Wheeldon and Victoria Brown offered inspirational anecdotes from their own personal success stories. And even from the battered and bruised property sector, positivity from Vinci’s Colin Rankin and Chris Evans from Shepherd.

Nobody is kidding themselves that 2012 is going to be anything other than another tough year. But when you mix with, engage with and work with the type of peole who we got together on Monday, you cannot help but feel that the glass is half full.

YOU CAN READ A FULL REPORT ON THE CONFERNCE IN THE JANUARY 2012 ISSUE OF DOWNTOWN MAGAZINE DQ