SMEs await Budget for proof of Burnham’s pro-business pledge
Bibby Financial Services’ (BFS) latest SME Confidence Tracker reveals that small businesses’ greatest wish for prime minister Andy Burnham and chancellor John Healey’s first Autumn Budget is to reduce the cost of doing business.
- SMEs’ wish-list for the Budget shows that reducing the cost burden is a number one priority. They’d like to see:
- a cut in corporation tax (46%)
- avoid new increases to corporation tax (43%)
- a freeze on capital gains tax (41%)
- a reversal in employers National Insurance Contribution rises (39%)
- extend the government’s cut to business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses to other sectors (36%)
- Many have been putting ambitions on hold as they wait for more certainty, 54% are delaying any major investment decisions until after the Autumn Budget.
- Small businesses are sceptical about whether the government’s pro-business agenda will come to light – just 1 in 5 UK SMEs think the Autumn Budget will benefit them.
Derek Ryan, CEO for North West Europe at Bibby Financial Services, commented: “prime minister Andy Burnham has said he wants the UK to be the most ‘pro-business country in the world’. If he’s serious, he must lower the cost of operating. That means cutting corporation tax, or at the very least guaranteeing it won’t rise again and reversing the increase in employer National Insurance. Extending business rates relief beyond retail, hospitality and leisure would also ease pressure on cashflow, free up working capital and remove a major barrier to growth.
“SMEs have heard pro-business promises before and been let down. Now they are waiting to see whether this government will deliver. More than half of SMEs are holding back major investment until after the Budget, unable to plan for growth without knowing what their tax bill will look like. That’s money not being spent on new equipment, new hires, and new products, which is exactly the activity this government says it wants to unlock. SMEs don’t lack ambition. What’s holding them back is the weight of the current tax burden. Ease that burden, give them stability, and they’ll invest.”