Hot Features
Premium
Trade smarter, not harder: Unleash your inner pro with our toolkit and live discussions.
UK business leaders respond to the 2013/14 budget
With a package of new measures announced during George Osborne’s fourth budget business leaders have been putting them into practical context and demonstrating how they will influence the UK economy.
Whilst a lack of financial support for SMEs drew criticism, Mr Osborne’s budget has been broadly welcomed by businesses leaders across a broad range of sectors.
Co-author the ADVFN Alternative Budget 2013 Arnab Dutt, Managing Director of manufacturer and exporter Texane, argued that the Chancellor found himself in a difficult position but that “reducing corporation tax and the removal of NI levies up to the first £22k will really help small business and I welcome these changes”.
Alistair Bingle, Managing Director of removals firm Bishop’s Move, reponsded positively to the Chancellor’s scrapping of the planned fuel tax increase;
This is fantastic news for businesses that rely on the roads to function and operate. A fuel duty hike would have had a severely negative impact on the haulage industry and a potential loss of jobs right down the ladder – the knock-on effect would have been unthinkable. Scrapping the fuel duty hike doesn’t weaken Treasury tax receipts as the previous above-inflation increases in duty and higher VAT have compensated for that.
For me there is no argument –scrapping the fuel duty had to happen and I’m delighted that it has. At last we, and our peers, have some respite. This has now ensured that our industry, and other businesses that function on the roads, can now get on with business as usual and get Britain moving.
Addressing the newly announced Help-to-Buy scheme Mr Bingle cited the positive impact it will have on the property market;
The new Help-to-Buy scheme is exactly what the property market has needed, and for some time. The Chancellor made it clear very early on that the property market was one of his main focuses in the Budget. The shared equity scheme, which will see the Government lend up to 20% of the cost of a new home to potential buyers currently struggling to secure a deposit and mortgage, will kick-start the property market across the country, of which first-time buyers hold the key.
This will surely stimulate growth in the property market and therefore have a significant impact on the general economy as a whole. With this, combined with the scrapping of the fuel duty hike, it has been a great Budget all round for the removals industry.
Whilst noting that the Chancellor has made positive steps to help SME Anil Stocker, Head of Policy at SME finance resource NGFC & co-founder of MarketInvoice, but writes that he failed to address the issue of SMEs being unable to access adequate finance to grow;
There are some clear positives for small businesses in this year’s budget. The new Employment Benefit will give a great boost to small firms in the UK. Even this small cut will make hiring easier and ease the burdens of getting a business off the ground.
Likewise the promise of new infrastructure spending is positive, with £15 billion more over the next decade. The spending is good news for the thousands of SMEs responsible for fulfilling public works projects.
But frankly, the failure to acknowledge the difficulties that SMEs face in accessing finance and to direct funding to the companies that can get it to them seriously weakens this budget. Mr Osborne has failed to confront the failure of Funding for Lending and other schemes. Mr Osborne should stop handing money to the banks that they won’t lend to small businesses, and start embracing the innovative new alternative lenders that are already doing just that.
Duncan Gillingwater, Director of CRM software company WorksIQ, delved into the budget’s small print and argues that the Chancellor has been successful in creating measure that will encourage businesses to recruit more staff;
Having read Section 1.128 of the 2013 budget report (£2,000 Employment Allowance on NICs from April 2014) it does actually look like a lot of small businesses will benefit from this and with the minimum of red tape, for a change! I know from first-hand experience five years ago that taking on your first employee can be a daunting step for a small business owner. It would have encouraged me back then to take that first step to give someone a job.
Addressing the boost to spending that the increase to the income tax threshold may generate Patrick King, Director of manufacturing pet products company Liverine pet and animal healthcare, saw the potential for his businesses to grow;
There is plenty to be positive about from this Budget. As a small business, simple things like the fuel duty rise scrapped and a rise in income tax will help provide that extra income in my own pocket to reinvest back into my business. I look forward to seeing these new developments for small businesses and applying them for my own business growth.
George Osborne can take a degree of comfort from this years budget, and unlike him being in the firing line last year, that it is the opposition leader Ed Miliband that has drawn negative response from business rather than himself. Brian Sceats, Managing Director of Holiday Marbella Ltd, responded to Mr Miliband’s lacklustre counter speech saying;
I was waiting for a thorough response on the Budget proposals from the Leader of the Opposition but was disappointed. What I heard was a generalised pre-prepared speech on Osborne’s last 3 years. It was as if he hadn’t even listened to the actual proposals. This is a shame as we need a balanced view from all sides.
