Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union
Farmers and growers have been left reeling from the changes announced in the Budget which demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the British farming sector is shaped and managed.
The current plans to change Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) need to be overturned and fast.
Farmers are rightly angry and concerned about their future and for the future of their family farms, having been reassured by minsters in the lead up to the Budget that APR and BPR changes were not on the table.
It’s clear the government does not understand that family farms are not only small farms, and that just because a farm is an asset it doesn’t mean those who work it are wealthy.
The Treasury’s figures which claim this will only affect one in four British farms are misleading. The £1m cap to APR shows how little this government understands the sector.
Every penny the chancellor saves from this will come directly from the next generation having to break up their family farm. It simply mustn’t happen.
Dr Roger Barker, director of policy at the Institute of Directors
At first blush, there is precious little in the government’s first Budget which offers anything other than short-term pain for the business community. The government has chosen to impose a significant new tax burden on business as a means of achieving an immediate boost to its public sector spending priorities.
The risk is that this will exert a negative impact on business confidence, with worrying implications for the economy’s future growth trajectory.
On the positive side, the government has made changes to its fiscal rules, in order to accommodate borrowing for the purposes of investment, and published a corporate tax roadmap, both of which we called for in our Budget submission.
The protection of public spending on R&D and the announcement of various transport infrastructure projects are also welcome.
The role of the National Wealth Fund in directing investment towards the industries of the future will hopefully make a positive contribution to the economy’s long-term growth prospects.
Business leaders can only hope that this is a big bang now, to wipe the slate clean, and that there will be no further shocks of this magnitude in the lifetime of this Parliament, enabling business to plan with more confidence.
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of Blackpool headquartered Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
Increasing the employment allowance for small businesses by a record amount is a very welcome move and we’re pleased the chancellor has heard us loud and clear.
More than doubling it, from £5,000 to £10,500, will shield the smallest employers from the jobs tax, therefore is a pro-jobs prioritisation in a tough Budget.
The decision to protect small businesses from an inflationary hike in business rates – by freezing the small business multiplier – will help small firms with premises across all sectors.
Meanwhile, extending business rates relief, albeit at a lower level, for small firms in retail, hospitality and leisure will mitigate a potential cliff-edge tax hike for those in some of the toughest sectors.
The true test of the Budget will be whether small businesses can grow and end the economic stagnation the UK has been stuck in.
Larger small, and medium-sized, businesses, will struggle with the rises on employer NI on top of the large costs from the government’s employment law plans. We’ve been very clear in our warning of the difficulty SMEs will be confronted with in meeting all of these changes at once – and the potential impact on jobs, wages and prices.
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
Stephanie Wilding, Business centre manager, Verat Space
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