Chamber Budget Reaction

Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Following the Chancellor’s Budget Report today (20 March), Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “The first impressions of the Chancellor’s Budget are that it has been fairly positive for businesses. There were a number of investment incentives announced, particularly for the shale gas and aerospace industries, which should help businesses in those sectors here in the North West.

“The announcement of the Employment Allowance will also offer some help for small business to reduce the cost of employing staff and ultimately the cost of doing business which we urged the Chancellor to look at in our Budget submission.

“There were also some simplification measures announced, however there may be some additional regulation on businesses in the details, such as powers given to the pensions regulator and anti-avoidance measures for tax. Businesses will particularly welcome the abandoning of the fuel duty rise in September, which the Chamber called for in its letter to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, and the employer allowance for National Insurance Contributions. Larger firms will also welcome the reduction of corporation tax to 20% from April 2015.

“We were disappointed that the Chancellor didn’t outline further infrastructure investment from the £3billion of departmental savings and we are concerned that next month all businesses will feel the brunt of a rise in business rates – which has gone up by 13% in the last three years – with no obvious mention of any assistance with regard to this.”