Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
30
Nov
Businesses meet Harrogate and Knaresborough MP for post-Budget stocktake
“Fiddling around the edges” and “death by a thousand cuts” were just two of the terms used to describe the Chancellor’s Budget at a business breakfast on Friday (November 28), although many agreed it could have been worse.
About 40 members of Harrogate’s business community gathered at the Cedar Court Hotel for the event, which was convened and organised by Tom Gordon MP and Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.
After a brief introduction from chamber president Phill Holdsworth, Ian Howard of leadership consultancy Libertas Professional, which sponsored the breakfast, put the Budget in context. He said:
Budgets don’t happen in isolation. At the moment, we have low growth, and low production, and these are not just confined to the UK – they're global issues.
There have been challenges including Brexit and covid and geopolitical tensions too, in Ukraine and Gaza. Despite the fact that some of the figures have started to look more promising lately, these challenges aren’t going away any time soon.
Mentioning that Harrogate was dominated by small and medium-sized businesses, he urged them to make use of the area’s professional services to help them navigate those challenges. He said:
Use the opportunity to look for help where you can.
About 40 people came to the breakfast event.
He was followed by Daniel Hill of PD Tax Consultants, who gave a detailed analysis of the Budget from a fiscal point of view – both personal and corporate.
Summing up, he advised attendees to speak to their accountant and consider how they are remunerated to become more tax-efficient.
Lily Bell, a chartered financial planner from Rise Wealth, advised attendees to use the full range of available tax wrappers, where appropriate.
Finally, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon spoke of his impressions of the Budget. He said the general consensus was that the UK is “not going to cut our way to growth”, but he also spoke of his “frustration” that the rise in National Insurance at last year’s Budget had not been reversed in the latest one:
I hear a lot of businesses saying they want to expand and take on new staff and are looking to upscale, but I don’t see anything’s necessarily going to change on that front as a result of this Budget.
There were some positives, he said, such as the announcements on apprenticeships and SEND funding, but said he feared the Budget would impact people in the middle more than anyone else.
He said:
My primary concern is that because this is a Budget of lots of tweaks around the edges, they won’t end up raising the revenue that was hoped for – they’ll fall short and cumulatively won’t add up.
All in all, it’s a bit more stable than we’ve seen in recent times. That’s helpful – the markets don’t appear to be spooked and there’s no massive panic. But I do think there is still a need for a clearer vision of what the government is trying to achieve.
Taking questions from the floor, Mr Gordon fielded queries and comments about the proposed tourist tax, Companies House filing fees, Harrogate's proposed Accommodation BID, and strategies for growth.
He ended by inviting people to contact him via his website ahead of his next appearance in Parliament. He said:
After the Budget, there are four days of debate. I’m planning on speaking in Monday’s Budget debate, so if anyone has anything they think is particularly pertinent or would be useful for me to know – any particular impact on their business or their plans for growth in the sector – if you can get in touch, I’d really appreciate that.
What they said
Speaking after the event, here's how our speakers summarised the Budget overall.
Ian Howard of Libertas Professional.
Ian Howard of Libertas Professional:
I think the Budget lacked any real benefits for businesses. There really aren’t any headline policies as there were last year. There was a lot of fiddling around the edges, giving advisers lots of opportunities to find gaps and create a lot of confusion. A lot of cans were kicked down the road.
Daniel Hill of PD Tax Consultants.
Daniel Hill of PD Tax Consultants said:
It’s been described as ‘death by a thousand cuts’. Last year, there were a lot of big, transactional changes, but this year there were lots of little measures, and it will make it very difficult for businesses to plan.
There are definitely things for businesses to think about – such as remuneration planning and the changes to salary sacrifice – but these are relatively small things.
Also, they need to stop all the leaks – they're really not helping. The OBR leak was quite shocking.
Lily Bell of Rise Wealth.
Lily Bell said:
This budget wasn’t as directly impactful as last year’s – that brought in seismic change.
I think she [the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves] is trying to use salary sacrifice capping to counteract the measures from last year.
Lots of clients were really nervous about the potential for tax-free cash to be removed, but that’s not happened. A lot of the heavy speculation just didn’t happen, so it could have been worse.
Martin Mann, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.
Martin Mann said:
I think it’s going to take a while for Harrogate businesses to understand the impact of the budget – perhaps a month or two. But we’re very pleased to be able to hear from our MP and provide a forum for members of the business community so that their voices can be heard and their views taken back to Westminster.
0