One word summed up Lancashire’s business response to the Chancellor’s Budget at our special breakfast event – “meh”.
Lacking in any headline-grabbing policies or anything to get really excited about, decision-makers across the county were left scratching their heads as to what to make of Jeremy Hunt’s speech.
While a further cut in national insurance is a boost for employees, there were only a few nuggets for businesses and even when analysts dug deep into the details it turned out to be a more political, rather than business-heavy Budget.
Delegates at the event, sponsored by MHA, said the failure to announce policies relating to climate change, business rates, tax-free shopping, infrastructure in the county and skills and employment made the budget more political, rather than benefit the business community.
A specialist panel from the Lancashire business community included Steve Haywood from MHA, Jeff House from Baxi, David Armstrong from Bako, Kate Shane from Merlin Entertainments and Dawn Cheetham from CKS Catering.
There was also reaction from the British Chamber’s of Commerce policy manager, Jonny Haseldine.
