The big news and talk to the town has been the budget reveal by Rishi Sunak, has opened many comments from the leading business owners.
The announcement of the formation of freeports in the budget was desperately needed to level up the agenda, according to Luke Hamm, CEO of GovGrant. He also said that the budget provided a great springboard for the UK’s economic recovery on the whole. HMRC’s Patent Box data showed a clear funding gap between the North and South – in 2018-19, about £690m was claimed by SMEs across London and the South East, paralleled to just £50 million in the North East. While many companies were headquartered in London, accounting for some of that allocation, he believes that the difference is still blunt.
Simon Hodgson, head of Public Policy at Unum addressed the decision of the inclusion of the closure to the current SSP rebate scheme. He believed that the closure of the current rebate scheme could create a havoc for the business of to how to support the employees who needed time for self-isolation or to recover. He mentioned that the budget, mainly highlighted the urgent need for the comprehensive approach at the financial protection provided for the ill and injured staff across every industry in the future days. Pandemic taught us the importance of finding a better way to drive the business investment up in workplace health and support the employees facing income attacks and to address this issue at it costs the economy more than £100bn every year.
Radeep Mathew,the head of Consulting at innovation funding firm Leyton, said that the Chancellor signaled an arrival of the more complex Corporation Tax regimes of old, which pursued to tax the larger companies that have normally fared well during the pandemic. But the top-line surge in corporation tax from 19 percent to 25 percent is a noteworthy jump given the need for business-driven economic development over the coming years and will certainly have an impact on the attitude of the larger businesses all over the UK. He also stated about the UK continuing to have one of the lowest rates of the G7 countries, and how it is particularly welcoming the smaller businesses, which form the mainstay of the UK economy, and will continue to pay the current rate of 19 percent. He believed that the cash flow had been a significant burden for business across the country and the announcement on the business rates and VAT, expansion of the furlough will now provide the confidence among the businesses that they can outgrow the difficulties in the coming months.
Seán Kemple, MD at Close Brothers Motor Finance, commented that all the Car dealers across the UK will be impacted by the Chancellor’s decision to raise corporation tax from 19 percent to 25 percent from 2023. As it has been a difficult year for dealers, who have had to circumnavigate through showroom closures and a surge in digitalization, all while facing manufacture delays that have restricted stock availability. Increased tax will put more pressure on the bottom lines, so the government will need to provide proper support and communication for those struggling. Enduring the business rates holiday will aid in supporting the car dealers across the country. It is much required since the industry is vital to the economy.
These were few of the opinions of the famous business leaders.
