𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

These are tough times for the economy. The tax burden is at a record high and growth is in the doldrums, with our data showing that of 20% of small firms intend to cut staff before January begins.

We were hoping to see measures that encourage small firms to invest and grow in their business, and while nothing announced today actively discourages growth, it doesn’t exactly spur it, either.

The economy shouldn’t have to bear tax hikes due to a lack of economic growth. That shows the cost of years of failure to get growth and trim spending.

Disappointing measures from today include hikes to dividend tax that will make investing in your own business one of the least tax-friendly things you can do with your hard-earned money, while plans to charge employers for supporting pension savings are a bad idea, too.

And then there’s the business rates measures, which will not help small firms and the high street nearly enough.

However, the Chancellor did take some small, positive steps today – on SME apprenticeships training as well as the new jobs guarantee scheme that, if done right, will offer thousands of young people a crucial chance in life. Now, ministers must bring forward pro-business, pro-growth policies, or we’ll be back at square one.

What needs to follow now are serious, pro-growth policies that restore the confidence small businesses need to grow, invest and hire.

That means immediate action to sort out the Employment Rights Bill, fix the broken small business energy market and back more people to start new businesses.

The future of our economy depends on it.