Business leaders have warned the Government that measures taken to stimulate the economy in the face of the recession were not working, with some firms seeing trade fall despite the cut in VAT. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said a survey of thousands of companies found that moves aimed at guaranteeing bank lending and boost consumer spending was having "no impact." The poll of 4,000 small firms showed that over half had seen their trade decrease in the last two months even though VAT was cut by 2.5% at the end of last year. Only one in 12 of those questioned said their banks were making available the Government-backed Enterprise Finance Guarantee and over half voiced doubts that that scheme would compel banks to start lending again. A fifth of small companies said they were still waiting longer than 10 days to be paid for public sector work and a third were waiting longer to get money from private firms. A separate survey of 5,000 businesses found that the VAT cut from 17.5% to 15% had made "no impact" on their trade. FSB chairman John Wright said: "These startling figures show there is still more to be done by Government and the banks to ensure businesses can survive in this economic climate. Small businesses are doing all they can to survive the recession but they need better support from the Government, the banks, and the public and private sector”.