Title: Business Link - Wikipedia
Headings: Business Link
Business Link
Contents
Origins and launch
Resistance
Challenges creating the network
Market confusion
Services
Regional network
Website
Closure
Similar services
See also
References

Content: "I knew that there were very large numbers of small and medium sized enterprises out there who were running on the most rudimentary systems. If they had a problem, many of them didn't come from a background where they knew of anyone who could help or advise them. We wanted a team of people who could hold their hand, listen to their problems, have a working knowledge of what business is about, make suggestions, ask questions and be a friend in need." Heseltine
Resistance
Despite being a Conservative sponsored initiative with apparent cross party support, the proposal for a Government funded One Stop Shop immediately hit political resistance. Reflecting on this period in 2011 Heseltine stated that "you would have the left wing, which wouldn't have any real interest in effective management of the capitalist system. And you would have a very powerful element on the right wing of politics that would think it's a matter for the capitalist system to manage itself and government intervention, as they would call it, would be very unattractive. In truth, when I did it, I did comprehensive presentations to Conservative back benchers so that they could see what I believed an industrial policy was about. What they felt it was likely to be about were things like backing winners, or subsidising losers. Now I wasn't in favour of certainly the latter, but once I had done the presentations, I had no complaints." Initially Heseltine approached the private sector to deliver a Business Link type service, specifically the British Chambers of Commerce.