‘Chancellor must deliver a convincing pro-growth budget’

Chris Fletcher, Deputy Chief Executive at the Chamber

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce is warning the Chancellor that he must deliver a robust and convincing pro-growth budget on Wednesday (23 March 2011).

The Chamber is concerned that its latest Quarterly Economic Survey, due to be released later this week, is indicating that the domestic economy across Greater Manchester and the wider North West has markedly slowed down and business confidence is ebbing away.

As confidence continues to fall, so have investment intentions leading to a reluctance to recruit, which will further reinforce the poor performance of the region’s domestic economy if consumer confidence does not improve.

Chris Fletcher, Deputy Chief Executive at the Chamber, said: “The Chancellor and the Government have said much about delivering pro-growth strategies, but the time for talking is over and the Budget must be clear, bold and decisive. Business can no longer put up with the uncertainty that has affected confidence since the Election last year and the Chancellor must avoid any temptation to simply tinker with policy.”

The Chamber will be keen to hear announcements in a number of key areas: 

• Last week’s announcements on removing the burden of red tape from smaller businesses were very welcome, but the Government needs to do more. All businesses are facing huge burdens from legislation, particularly employment, over the next few years.
• With many of the decisions on personal and business taxes announced in last June’s statement there are likely to be announcements around duty. We are hopeful that the Chancellor will respond to our calls to abandon the proposed increase in fuel duty and we wait for possible announcements on air passenger duty.
• With the Chamber’s role advising the Office of Tax Simplification and the burden that administering the tax system places on businesses, we will be looking to hear about what recommendations from the OTS the Chancellor introduces and what he may take forward.
• Expect announcements on income tax and national insurance, though we have some concerns over recommendations for a new corporation tax regime for small businesses.
• Round one of the Regional Growth Fund was heavily oversubscribed, so areas such as Greater Manchester will be eager to find out how successful it has been in securing urgently needed monies from these funds to support the region’s growth.
• It has been suggested that there will be an announcement related to establishing enterprise zones in regions likely to be hardest hit by the cuts. The Chamber will be keen to find out where these are and what other details are attached to the announcement.
• There have been a number of consultations related to skills and vocational training in recent months, so we want to see how this will be translated into a deliverable strategy.
• The Localism Bill is causing considerable disruption and uncertainty to developers’ plans and regional spatial strategy planning. Clarification in the Budget or amendments to the Bill would be welcome at this time.