Osborne's Budget leaves much to be desired

As George Osborne was presenting the much-anticipated Budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday I was particularly interested to discover just how far he would go in delivering on his pledge to support business and thus get the UK economy growing. It is an understatement to say that I was left disappointed.

Whilst measures like acknowledging our successful industries such as medicine, science and technology and reinforcing them with targeted efforts and the confirmation of the credit easing plan for a National Loan Guarantee Scheme were better than nothing, what the budget does not however do is go far enough in making Britain internationally competitive in attracting corporation confidence, nor does it do much to support the cause of struggling small businesses.

The cut in corporation tax from 26% to 24% for one is not enough. The economic argument advocating a move to lower corporation tax to a much more competitive rate of 15% is far more compelling. The underhand measure of the intention to reverse the Supreme Court ruling on Vodafone and bring in a tax amendment is one even more detrimental to our prospects of attracting much needed corporation confidence. This will do little to bring in essential corporation investment in order to increase Britain’s relevance in the world economy.

In terms of smaller businesses, it seems to me that the budget overwhelmingly supports its larger competitors. The Conservatives under Cameron and Osborne, in rhetoric champion small business yet land measures such as a 5.6pc rise in business rates. This is a particularly crippling policy that will undermine and marginalise the role of small businesses in rebooting the economy. This flies in the face of the government agenda to revitalize Britain's rapidly declining high street. Consumer spending in retail is currently not growing in line with inflation- a humbling indicator that people are tightening their belts and cutting back on spending, to the detriment of the well being of the overall economy. This urgent situation is not reflected by Osborne’s budget. Action on these business rates is paramount. Increasing business rates only makes this cause ever more difficult in an economic crisis in which money is scarce as it is.

On a related theme, the budget also fails to cut through the bureaucracy of employment rights which act as a huge disincentive to businesses looking to expand and employ more people. This partly explains unemployment figures. This has a knock on effect on consumer confidence and consumer spending. If a large section of our society is unnecessarily struggling on low unemployment benefit then they the lack spending power which is vital for the prospects of high street retail. Curbing employment rights legislation will have the effect of expanding the work force and taking people out of the lows of unemployment. This will also cut need to increase government borrowing which jeopardises the UK’s credit rating.

In short, this budget fails to deliver adequately in these key areas. It is apparent that the government caved in to populist demands to appear not to be the government of ‘millionaires and ‘fat cats’’. This will prove reductive to our long-term national interests unless Osborne and co get their priorities right and prove themselves serious in wanting to ensure economic growth. This can only be achieved by supporting business and enterprise. Politically challenging, granted, but nevertheless necessary in taking the country out of economic crisis.