Yahoo Finance Boost skills, cut taxes and invest more, business groups and unions tell Hammond
Philip Hammond should hold down taxes for employers and families to ease financial pressures, while investing in skills and infrastructure to boost productivity and growth, business groups and unions have demanded.
A long list of industry and labour groups have outlined their policy requests, writing to the Chancellor one month ahead of his Budget in November. Business rates should be frozen for the next two years, according to the British Retail Consortium and the British Chambers of Commerce.
The business groups argue that the local taxes are harming business investment and pushing up costs for firms and their customers at a time of already heightened inflation.
A “Brexit special” investment allowance of £1m would help encourage companies to loosen their purse strings at a time of uncertainty, the BCC said, while government spending on roads and northern trains would also help kick start growth. “At a critical moment for the UK economy, the Chancellor must be bold – and deliver a big Budget that prioritises economic confidence and investment,” said Adam Marshall, the BCC’s director general.
“The best possible Brexit deal won’t be worth the paper it’s written on if conditions for growth aren’t right here at home. Action to slash the upfront costs faced by business, to incentivise investment, and to improve mobile coverage and infrastructure would lead to a real boost to productivity, wages and trade.”
The Federation of Small Businesses added that it wants to see more investment in roads and digital infrastructure to boost growth. That call is backed by the Trades Union Congress, which also wants money to be spent training unemployed workers, as well as investment in green technologies to help heavy industries become cleaner.
“The Government has talked a lot about industrial strategy,” said Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary. “Now’s the time to act. We need new investment to bring infrastructure, skills and great jobs to the parts of the country that need them most.”
Meanwhile, industry body EEF said manufacturers are investing cautiously and could do with a boost in the Budget.
Just over half of companies expect to increase investment levels over the next two years, the most positive score in the EEF Investment Monitor’s four-year history.
However, the average amount being invested has slipped from 7.5pc of turnover to 6.5pc, indicating a degree of reluctance to commit to large amounts of extra spending.
