Daily Mail opportunity - number 3

"This is the ultimate kick in the teeth for most business owners. We are continually coming up with solutions to problems engineered by short-sighted decisions, and the past 18 months have been spent navigating the ever-changing landscape. Build back better they say. We actually require them to work on the larger interconnected issues that plague business owners that are often beyond "just solving it" because the root causes are significant and often at a level that requires a Government that knows what it's doing. It's laughable that he can stand there and say "we can't fix everything" when their actions cause most of the problems we are dealnig with on a daily basis!"

"Great leaders take the blame and pass on the credit, not point the finger and ignore the support being asked for. SMEs account for 99.9% of businesses in the UK and with the right support, government leadership and industry interventions they could be the answer to all of Boris Johnson's problems."

"I have to agree with Boris on this one. Companies need to be responsible for themselves. The petroleum companies should be able to get their own stock supplies to market. They certainly make enough profit for their shareholders. It's not a government problem nor should the tax payer pick up the bill. If my local shop ran out of bread and couldn't get supplies from the bakery, I wouldn't be calling my M.P."

"So Boris has said "it is not down to the Government to fix every problem". I would love to know what problems the Government have actually fixed already? Answers on a postcard please."

"A lovely bit of buck passing from the government. Whilst the government can't be expected to solve every problem, it is surely the government's responsibility to fix the problems that they create. A poorly implemented Brexit and general lack of any coherent plan in anything they do (or willingness to understand how policy will impact real people and businesses) just makes life more difficult than it needs to be. It's easier to make a video stuffing your face with chips to distract the electorate than actually solve problems of your own making."

"I am astounded by Boris's arrogance when it comes to the private sector being able to solve supply chain issues when the Government is directly responsible for them. Supply chain issues affect both big and small business owners and, while the larger ones may be able to overcome temporary shortages in petrol, it's always the small business owner who bears the brunt of such shortages and has no fallback position other than to hope their clients are willing to wait patiently."

"Haulage industry drunk on cheap foreign labour, failing to pay decent wages for a tough job to attract talent or train up the next generations for years. Though sure, it's Boris' Fault."

"Come on Boris, we know you can’t solve every problem but when supply chains are fundamental to economic recovery you can’t simply ask the private sector and small businesses to fix it. Don’t you think we have enough to deal with, getting our businesses back on track, the lack of skilled workers and the financial pressures you’ve already told us we have to bear to recruit." Honestly, come and spend a week in a small business and you’ll soon see what we are dealing with every single day.

"Putting the responsibility of solving supply chain problems and "raising pay" on the private sector will only raise prices for consumers. The knock-on effect to the so called "non-essential" small business owners will be detrimental and could force either a huge hike in prices or worse still closure of local small businesses that many rural communities rely on."

"I'm back to disagreeing with Boris Johnson. It's very much like him to be absolving himself of all accountability for the latest crises. Brexit, the nightmarish handling of the pandemic, the approaching Christmas shortage saga, are all messes created by the government yet the private sector needs to swoop in and save the day. Go figure."

"Big mistake Boris. You're putting far too much pressure on low earning members of the public. Putting pressure on businesses to find a way out of the supply chain problems will mean higher prices for essential items and mean some people could face choosing if they heat the home or feed the kids. Goodbye to thousands of jobs because low earners consumers will be priced out of the market, especially for non essential purchases like hair and beauty."

"We're all grown ups here so lets take responsibility for our actions. I think as small business owners we've shown plenty of resilience and willingness to fix problems over the last 18 months but it's about taking responsibility for our actions. Where the Government have created issues then it'd be nice if they took responsibility for fixing them rather than just expecting us to pick up the mess they've created."