SMALL and medium sized businesses are the engine room of the UK economy in a way that does not apply in most other European countries.

Napoleon called us a nation of shopkeepers and, if so, we should bear the intended insult with pride. So beware EU strategies that have a disproportionately bad effect on small business.

The same is true of the financial services sector which, again, is more important to our economy than the European norm.

Brussels may think a so-called ‘Robin Hood tax’ on financial transactions is a good idea to raise money for the EU but it’ll be the UK economy that takes the rap because of the pre-eminence of the City of London. To accept it would be a classic case of cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Getting back to SMEs, on Friday I went to the Edington Group open day and made a little speech on what the government’s attitude to the sector is and what it has done.

Key issues for SMEs at the moment are tax, access to finance, employing people and bureaucracy.

I’m pleased the government has cut corporation tax, recognising that getting business moving again won’t happen in a hostile fiscal environment.

It’s delivered more than £3bn of cuts in the cost of red tape to business since January 2011 and extended the small business rate relief holiday for three and a half years.

On employment, ministers stopped the most damaging part of the jobs tax – a rise in Employer National Insurance.

They’ve established a new business bank for SMEs and designed an Enterprise Finance Guarantee to encourage lending.

So, a substantial package to grow private sector employment opportunities for people wanting to get off benefits and into work.