Whoever wins the next election should be careful not to put too much pressure on the people who can make a difference - the entrepreneurs - said

Gerald Ronson (pictured), chief executive of Heron International (which operates Snax 24), at the company’s annual lunch in London.

"Entrepreneurs should not be the targets," he told the audience of 400 business leaders and opinion formers. "Entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged - not penalised and driven out of the country. Entrepreneurs take personal and financial risk and create employment and enterprise. We have to be careful because it wouldn’t take a lot for us to slip back into recession and that’s before the effect of inflation on the economy."

He said that it didn’t matter which political party was in power, there were only two ways for them to reduce debt: "Just the same as any organisation, reduce expenditure or create fresh revenue streams."

He also said the next government should tread carefully when making decisions on regulation and the commercial regime. "The UK is highly dependent on professional and financial services which have replaced the manufacturing industry we once had. We need to maintain the City of London as a vibrant and attractive environment for international business."

It’s been a big week for Heron International as it celebrated the ’topping out’ of the Heron Tower, now officially the tallest building in the City of London. Work started in 2006 and it will completed by April 2011.