About Us

SME4Labour places strong emphasis on building meaningful, two-way engagement between the business community and public representatives, creating opportunities for open dialogue and mutual understanding.

This engagement goes beyond simple interaction—it focuses on participation and connection. SME4Labour creates structured opportunities for SME owners and industry leaders to engage with MPs, peers, councillors, and stakeholders. Through roundtables, forums, and conference events, businesses are able to share their experiences, challenges, and insights in a constructive and collaborative environment.

A key element of this work is facilitating discussion and knowledge-sharing. SME4Labour brings together perspectives from across the business community, helping to highlight important issues such as economic growth, business taxation, employment, skills, and regional development. These conversations help ensure that the experiences of SMEs are clearly communicated and understood.

SME4Labour is also actively involved in events around the Labour Party Conference, where it hosts business-focused discussions, networking receptions, and sector-specific briefings. These gatherings bring together senior politicians and business leaders in a more informal setting, encouraging open dialogue and long-term relationship building.

Importantly, this engagement is designed to be inclusive. SME4Labour helps ensure that the diversity of the SME landscape—from start-ups and family-run businesses to scaling enterprises—is well represented, giving space for a wide range of voices and perspectives to be heard.

Through this ongoing work, SME4Labour supports a constructive relationship between business and public life—helping to strengthen understanding, build connections, and promote collaboration across sectors.

 

Why SMEs Matter

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy. They make up over 99% of all businesses, employ around 16.7 million people, and generate more than half of all private sector turnover. From high streets and neighbourhood shops to innovative tech start-ups and manufacturing hubs, SMEs are at the heart of communities, creating jobs, supporting local supply chains, and driving regional economic development.

SMEs are also engines of innovation. Many of the UK’s breakthrough products, services, and technologies originate in small businesses, where creativity, agility, and entrepreneurial spirit thrive. Beyond economic contribution, SMEs foster social cohesion, providing opportunities for local employment and supporting community initiatives. They are the businesses people trust, rely on, and celebrate in their everyday lives.

Engaging with SMEs is essential to building a strong and dynamic economy. Through SME4Labour, small business owners have a platform to share their experiences, highlight challenges, and contribute to wider discussions on areas such as access to finance, skills development, sustainable growth, and innovation.

Through events, roundtables, awards, and campaigns, SME4Labour supports and amplifies the voice of SMEs, ensuring their experiences and contributions are recognised. The aim is to help create an environment where SMEs can flourish, contribute to national prosperity, and play a central role in building a strong and inclusive economy.

Transparency and Our Registration with the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL)

SME4Labour is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the Labour Party and Labour campaigns, while championing the voice of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK. We campaign on issues that affect SMEs and the communities they serve, but we are not a lobbying organisation for any individual company or industry.

To ensure complete transparency and in line with guidance from the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL), SME4Labour has joined the ORCL register. We are always happy to disclose who we are working with and who is supporting our fundraising events and broader activities.

Our income is generated through:

  • Membership fees

  • Ticket and table sales at our events (including dinners and lunches)

  • Advertising in our publications

  • Event sponsorship

  • Fundraising Dinners

It is important to stress that sponsorship or any financial support does not provide any privilege, influence, or access to political figures. Our fundraising supports our mission to promote dialogue between SMEs and the Labour movement.

SME4Labour is not affiliated with the Labour Party but proudly supports its values and campaigns. We exist to give small businesses a platform to be heard and to contribute meaningfully to policy development that affects their livelihoods.

We have recently migrated our website to a new platform, and while much of the site is now updated, a few pages remain under review. These are being updated as a matter of priority.

We take our role seriously and continue to make all required declarations through the appropriate channels, including Companies House and ORCL. As a not-for-profit, every pound raised goes directly into delivering our events and advancing our work to support SMEs and the Labour movement.