Making a case for members ahead of spring Budget
Date published:
The Chamber’s latest column for The Journal by Marianne O’Sullivan, policy manager.
The Chancellor has announced that there will be a spring Budget on 6 March, where he will outline the government’s tax and spending plans.
The Budget will be important ahead of a potential general election this year, with the government set to announce changes to tax policy.
The Chamber has written to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget to highlight the key asks from our members across enterprise and growth; people and work; education and participation; an international North East; and green innovation.
Feedback from our members in our quarterly economic survey has shown that business confidence is improving in areas such as UK orders and export orders. More firms are looking to grow their workforce, but staff costs remain a concern for businesses. Despite increasing business confidence, inflation remains significantly above the Bank of England’s 2% target, putting pressure on the UK economy.
Recognising this pressure on businesses, we have made the case in our Budget submission for reforming and reviewing business rates policy to support North East businesses directly, as well as committing to multi-year funding settlements to provide councils and other public agencies with long-term financial certainty.
We have continued to make the case for the reopening of the Leamside Line which was notably absent from the government’s major set of rail announcements at the end of last year. Reopening the line will increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line and open up opportunities for Metro expansion to Washington. The new Metro link would generate over £90m per year in economic benefits to the region.
The submission also called for further education funding and a more flexible apprenticeship levy which would allow employers to invest in a greater range of accredited training. As well as investing in skills, we have also focused on health-related tax incentives for SMEs, which would enable them to provide access to additional healthcare and better occupational health support for their staff, helping to reduce ill health and economic inactivity in the region.
We will continue to raise the priorities of our members ahead of the Budget and upcoming regional and national elections.
Read our submission letter to the Chancellor here