It is Welsh party conference season, and with the general election campaign in full swing the political parties have started setting out some of their policies.

But it is not just the political parties that have policies they hope to see put into practice. At the FSB we have our own manifesto setting out those things that we would like the next UK Government, whatever its political colour turns out to be, to put in place.

In our manifesto we are calling on the next UK Government to rebalance the economy and to boost sustainable economic growth in every part of the UK, including here in South East Wales.

It also calls on the next UK Government to make markets work better, giving the smallest businesses similar protection to consumers in areas such as the energy market.

Here in Wales we are specifically calling for the Severn Bridge tolls to be reduced to the level needed to cover only maintenance costs as soon as the two crossings pass into public ownership.

FSB Wales is also looking for the next UK Government to devolve Air Passenger Duty to Wales in the hope of providing better air connectivity for Welsh businesses.

Throughout the party conferences being held in Wales this spring we are sharing our manifesto with current and prospective MPs. We hope that they will take a little time to read through our manifesto and discuss some of the key points it raises with our members and staff.

FSB members and staff have already attended Labour’s spring conference and look forward to sharing our message with the other parties in the weeks ahead.

We are hoping that more and more of the politicians that we meet will join with us and take up our slogan #ibacksmallbusiness, because there is much that small businesses contribute to the welfare and vitality of our communities, here in South East Wales and in every part of the UK.