Simon Anderson, Managing Director of BankSearch said "in England 38,100 new businesses started up in May, 2,630 fewer than the previous month. At the beginning of the year there was a strong uplift in the number of businesses being formed. However, the numbers fell back a little in May. There are wide variations in the number of start ups across the country. So far this year Scotland (+21.2%) London (+22%), North East (+15.9%) and Yorkshire (15.8%) have seen the seen strong year-to-date growth compared to the corresponding period in 2009. Wales (+6.5%), the West Midlands (+8.4%) and East Midlands (+10.7%) had the weakest growth.

David Rea, Group Economics, Royal Bank of Scotland said “with two bank holidays during the month, seasonal factors played a big part in the dip in the number of starts in May. Moreover, there was a week of uncertainty following the election; we were all asking who would form the next government and what would happen to spending and taxation. The general economic backdrop was quite favourable; output continued to pick up in May and the claimant count fell - dropping below 1.5 million for the first time since March 2009