We have lost count of the number of times people working in our small businesses have told us they just can't get a loan. Often it's a small investment - maybe just £30,000 - that can get those businesses going, create the jobs, kick-start the innovation and exports that we need. But these are the very loans that you simply can't get without personal guarantees, like putting up your house - and even then the banks might say no. That's got to change - and we're going to use the Regional Growth Fund to help change it.
So Lord Heseltine has brokered a ground-breaking deal with RBS and HSBC where the government will provide £95 million of new Regional Growth Fund money for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). These two banks will administer the scheme and provide new lending, unlocking a total of £500 million of new investment for SMEs.
By using high street banks like this we will give support to those SMEs that can't access commercial funding and we will help areas of our country that other forms of business lending can't reach. It's a huge step forward.