Sir Richard Branson urges John Healey to 'give young entrepreneurs a break' ahead of his first budget
The British billionaire urged the government to "avoid making life difficult" for youngsters whose start-up businesses are still finding their feet.
Sir Richard Branson has urged Chancellor John Healey to avoid making life difficult for entrepreneurs in his first Budget.
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The billionaire entrepreneur told LBC it would be "great" if the Government got behind young entrepreneurs and helped them build their businesses.
Sir Richard also called on the Chancellor to give people who are trying to start businesses the breaks they need, just while they get their business up and established.
"Those are the businesses that are going to employ people in Britain in the decades ahead," he added.
Speaking of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Sir Richard said he would be a "foolish" Prime Minister if he didn't want to see businesses succeed.
"But obviously we now need to see what policies he brings in to help small businesses succeed," he added.
Read more: Long-term government borrowing costs leap to 28-year high ahead of Budget
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard insisted that the UK is still a good place to be an entrepreneur.
When asked by LBC about the large number of young people not in work or education, Sir Richard encouraged them to try to set up their own businesses.
He said: "Even if it's just something very small initially... if you try, if you just give it a go, you might surprise yourself and you might get some traction and then you can build it from there."
Recounting an anecdote that highlights Sir Richard's entrepreneurial roots, he explained that he left school at the age of 16 and started his career planting Christmas trees, but rabbits ate them all. Then he tried breeding budgerigars, but his mother accidentally released them.
Eventually, he explained, he stumbled into starting a magazine, which led to a record company and "so on".
"So I think young people should just try to start a little business and see. See if they can earn a bit of money, where one thing can lead on to another," he said.
Sir Richard's Virgin Atlantic has been announced as Official Airline Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with Virgin Atlantic Holidays as Official Holiday Partner.
Sir Richard's comments come days after Mr Burnham addressed the House of Commons for the first time since becoming Prime Minister.
Mr Burnham said Britain needs to be “blunt” about what has gone wrong in recent decades, and must spread power to people and places across the country to kickstart economic growth.
He also hit out at the deindustrialisation and privatisation of the 1980s, and the impact of austerity and Brexit on regions of the UK outside of the South East and London.
During a three-hour and 23-minute statement, including questions from backbenchers, he hit out at the “failed economic model” which had led to high streets across the country being left desolate.