Business owners call for Brown's resignation

A group of nine business owners, led by Pimlico Plumbers managing director Charlie Mullins, has formed a petition calling for Gordon Brown to resign over claims that he has left UK industry 'drastically ill prepared' for the recession.

In a letter printed in the Daily Telegraph, the group said Mr Brown's leadership had been a 'catastrophic failure' and that he had actively encouraged the banks' risk-taking culture, which has left the country with 'one of the biggest budget deficits in the advanced world'. The group plans to start an online petition and eventually deliver their complaints to Downing Street.

Speaking exclusively to BusinessZone.co.uk, Mullins said: "Small businesses contribute a lot to the economy, and yet the government is taking no notice of us.

"For more than a year now we have been saying that the economic situation has been getting worse, but when the recession finally started to hit three or four months ago, Gordon Brown said that it had taken him by surprise.

"He's been involved in the country's finances for more than 10 years, how could he not have seen it coming?"