"This is the perfect opportunity for the owners of small businesses to make their voices heard on the issues that really affect them," said the FPB's Campaigns Assistant, Jane Bennett, who drew up the petition."I urge all owners of small businesses to sign the petition to help get the FPB's 'Think Smallest First' campaign off to a flying start."

The petition, which is available via a link at www.thinksmallestfirst.org, calls on MPs to ‘make a difference' to small businesses, particularly when formulating new regulation and introducing tax policies.

In a survey carried out in 2007 for Referendum, the FPB's quarterly survey of members, a huge 97% of respondents said that the UK had become a worse place in which to do business as a result of the Government's tax regime. In addition, the FPB's members voted health and safety as the most onerous administrative burden they face (30.3%); followed by PAYE and National Insurance (25.1%); maternity and paternity issues (11.0%); dismissal and redundancies (9.4%); and absence/sickness (7.4%).

According to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), more than 99% of all businesses in the UK are classed as ‘small', employing up to 49 members of staff. Further, the smallest firms (0 to 9 employees) make up 96% of all UK businesses. On average, the FPB's members employ just 10 members of staff each.

The FPB's Chief Executive, Phil Orford, launched the ‘Think Smallest First' campaign in Brussels with a speech on the Small Business Act for Europe, which is expected to be published this week. The conference was organised by the French employers' organisation, the General Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CGPME), and the European Economic and Social Committee.

"We – as organisations representing small businesses across the European Union – have an opportunity to use the Small Business Act for Europe to hold the commission and Member States' governments to their commitments," Mr Orford told delegates at the conference. "Our members cannot do this by themselves. We have an obligation to support our members by driving a Better Regulation and Simplification Agenda, utilising a number of mechanisms."

Mr Orford added: "One – just one – mechanism is a Small Business Act for Europe, which incorporates a process that takes into account the impact that all regulation will have on small businesses, which, in turn, will provide an element of certainty – so enabling businesses to plan ahead."