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Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones says SMEs previously struggling to get credit should now re-contact their banks.

Speaking at the launch of small business week, the annual event for Britain’s 4.6 million SMEs, the multi-millionaire praised the Government’s £37 billion bail-out as a ‘first class response’.

He added: ‘The hole has been plugged and credit lines are now open to SMEs – something that is so important for their innovation. If small businesses are in need of credit, it’s now available.’

The TV star was joined by a list of high-profile speakers at the BT Tower, including Adam Shaw from The Working Lunch, Mark Prisk MP, the Conservative shadow minister for small business, and Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business.

Prisk was similarly upbeat, claiming that under current conditions a new generation of entrepreneurs are going to come forward. Murphy added that the company had received more than 7,000 start-up enquiries in the past week, proving that the spirit of entrepreneurialism is still alive.

However, Jones’ view of the climate remained even more optimistic. The Dragon described comparisons to a 1930s-style depression as ‘simply misleading’, likening the 1929 crash to an economic heart attack and the Government’s rescue plan to a full bypass operation. ‘If a recession occurs it will only be a shallow one. This is the first sign of a recovery,’ he adds.

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