This article was written by Damian and published in this week's Herald and Petersfield Post:
"Last week I wrote about the importance of people being supported back into work and the positive impact this could have, not only for those families, but for tackling local workforce shortages. As we know, this is a critical issue for businesses in East Hampshire.
Inflation last month remained high, but is projected to fall. According to the Office of Budget Responsibility, it is expected to be at 2.9 per cent by the end of the year.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor have been completely correct to focus on tackling inflation and avoiding a recession. It is quite a turnaround given where we were at the end of last year, but clearly we’re not out of the woods yet.
Alongside positive employment statistics, locally here in East Hants but also nationally, there is a lot for businesses to be positive about in this budget.
The Chancellor’s decision to allow full expensing for the next three years for certain plant and machinery investments is welcome news, particularly for rural economies. This means that businesses can deduct 100 per cent of the cost of these investments from their profits before paying tax.
This is estimated to be worth over £25 billion to businesses over the next three years with investment predicted to increase by 3 per cent per year over the same period. Local farmers, for example, will have more incentive to invest in new and potentially more efficient kit for their farms.
And that’s not all.
There’s also a generous package of support for the creative arts, providing tax relief for theatres, museums and galleries, and £500 million for research and development businesses to encourage investment in future technologies.
This budget sets out to reward businesses that invest and innovate, recognising how they support growth and the massive benefits they can bring to the local and national economy. That is something we can all get behind, because economic growth underpins so much else.
The Chancellor’s decision to change pension tax rules to encourage people to continue working has attracted plenty of commentary in the press. But we know that this has been a real issue in doctors leaving the NHS.
Everyone wants to see experienced doctors in their local GP surgeries, particularly at a time when the health service is playing catch up following the global pandemic. Back in 2019, the Royal College of Surgeons calculated that 69 per cent of consultant surgeons have reduced their hours because of the way pension taxes work. We cannot let this situation continue.
And it is an issue too for plenty of others, including senior teachers and other senior individuals in the public sector.
Getting inflation down remains the number one economic task, and that is why it tops the set of five priorities the Prime Minister set out (the others are economic growth, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists and tackling the illegal immigration gangs).
The number one encouraging indicator is that unemployment remains low. If we can tame inflation – and we can – and help get more of the ‘economically inactive’ into jobs, the outlook for businesses and the wider economy has brightened significantly."
