A Budget for investment

Yesterday we partnered with Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce for a live interactive Budget event with business leaders in the region at the Lloyds Bank Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre (AMTC) at Ansty Park.

The Budget was the first one for Chancellor Rishi Sunak and no easy task, given the unprecedented economic pressures and an emergency interest rate announced by the Bank of England only hours before the Chancellor took to the box.

The overall reaction was that the announcements were positive for business, dealing head on with the immediate economic concerns including COVID 19, whilst investing in the future economy. Director Steve Harcourt provided thoughts on the economic position and impact to the SME community.

"It wasn’t just a Budget that deals with issues today – although they were addressed – it was a Budget that looks ahead five years. 

There was a lot of infrastructure investment announced and talk of increasing productivity within the UK economy and time will tell whether that can be delivered but, on the whole, it was a positive Budget for business with the largest fiscal boost to the UK economy in 30 years.

That was very much needed by business in these uncertain times and the investment planned in growth and productivity should see more long-term funding in the public sector too.”

Top of the tax agenda was a cut to Entrepreneurs’ Relief, reducing the Lifetime Allowance for gains significantly from £10 million to £1 million. The Chancellor sought to give some good news for all, from freezing duties on all alcohol and fuel, to providing increases to tax relief for research and development and capital allowances for commercial property. Commenting on the tax measures, Claire Lea, Head of Advisory Tax, “We are pleased to see that Entrepreneurs’ Relief will still be available for many and not abolished completely. Significant commitment has been promised for R&D, which should provide opportunities for a number of businesses across the region”.

Please click here for our summary of the main measures announced yesterday. Inevitably the devil will be in the detail and the impact of the announcements will evolve over the coming weeks.

As always, please do contact us if you have any concerns about the changes.