March 28, 2011 2.19 pm This story is over 156 months old

Local firms say Budget won’t boost trade

Survey: Four in ten businesses said that they would be no worse off—yet no better off—as a result of the new budget.

Small businesses in Lincolnshire say the ‘Budget for growth‘ announced last week will have no real impact on the day-to-day running of their operations.

The results are from a poll of more than 800 members of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which ran on March 24, the day after the Budget.

Almost half (45%) of the members said the Budget would have no impact at all, while 31% thought it would have a positive impact.

Four in ten members said that they would be no worse off—but crucially no better off—as a result of the actions taken by Chancellor Osbourne (pictured).

Of the third of members think they will be better off, over half (54%) claim they will get a £1 to £1,000 boost to cash-flow in the next year.

The 2% reduction in Corporation Tax, the increase in the Approved Mileage Allowance and the freeze on new domestic regulations were among the announcements that would have the most positive impact on member businesses.

David Dexter, Lincolnshire Region Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said he was disappointed Lincolnshire was not named an Enterprise Zone.

“As the results from the poll show, the Budget has not hurt small businesses, but it won’t help them to grow either.”

“While we welcome the introduction of Enterprise Zones across parts of the UK, we are disappointed that Lincolnshire has not been granted an Enterprise Zone, even though we have many areas of deprivation.”

The government will fund 21 enterprise zones across the UK.

“The missing link in the Budget was measures to help all UK businesses to take on staff and grow their business,” Dexter said.

“This could have been done easily through extending the National Insurance Contributions holiday to micro-businesses.”