FOLLOWING the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt's presentation of his 2023 Autumn Statement to the UK's Parliament, on:- Wednesday 22 November 2023 these are some of the many views we have already received...

Within a press release sent out to us by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) which represents 26,000 landowners across rural England and Wales, the group's President, Victoria Vyvyan has responded, saying:- “From a tax perspective, this was an Autumn Statement that failed to recognize the potential of the rural economy, with thousands of rural businesses excluded from what were largely urban centric measures. Rural businesses have suffered a very high tax burden at the same time as high costs. While some measures, such as cuts to self-employed national insurance, are welcome, they will not help businesses in the countryside to grow. The tax system needs to be simplified and designed to modernize the sector, driving productivity growth. This means extending the full expensing regime beyond large corporates to include unincorporated businesses as well as buildings and infrastructure. We welcome measures to help speed up the planning system and provide extra funding for house building, but the Government has been talking about planning and housing reform for decades. It now needs urgently to deliver on its promises.”
 

She went on to say:- “From a tax perspective, this was an Autumn Statement that failed to recognise the potential of the rural economy, with thousands of rural businesses excluded from what were largely urban centric measures. Rural businesses have suffered a very high tax burden at the same time as high costs. While some measures, such as cuts to self employed national insurance, are welcome, they will not help businesses in the countryside to grow.   The tax system needs to be simplified and designed to modernise the sector, driving productivity growth. This means extending the full expensing regime beyond large corporates to include unincorporated businesses as well buildings and infrastructure. We welcome measures to help speed up the planning system and provide extra funding for house building; but the Government has been talking about planning and housing reform for decades. It now needs urgently to deliver on its promises.”

Responding to today’s Autumn Statement, Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the Local Government Association, said:- "The evidence of the financial strain on Councils has been growing and it is hugely disappointing that today's Autumn Statement has failed to provide the funding needed to protect the services the people in our communities rely on every day. We are pleased Government has acted on our call to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance rates, which is a positive step in helping to support the most vulnerable in our society to afford rising rents. It is also good that the Government has committed to ensuring councils will be able to set planning fees to cover the full cost of processing some major applications which will mean local taxpayers no longer have to foot the bill. Supporting businesses, and easing the cost of living for households is important, but not if our public services continue to be chronically underfunded and unable to be there to support people when they need them. Adult social care remains in a precarious position, record numbers of households are in temporary accommodation and there are now more than 80,000 looked after children in England. The lack of additional funding in today’s announcement risks councils' ability to meet this spiraling demand, provide critical care, and support a healthy population with access to housing, training, and jobs. Councils have worked hard to find efficiencies and reduce costs, but the easy savings have long since gone. It is wrong that our residents now face further cuts to services as well as the prospect of Council Tax rises next year, with Councils having the difficult choice of raising bills to bring in desperately needed funding. Devolution gives local leaders greater freedom to take decisions closest to the people they represent. Where they are supported by all councils it is good to see new devolution deals announced today, including to those parts of the country outside cities. This needs to signal a genuine ‘local first’ approach to policy making across Whitehall, to ensure as many communities as possible benefit from devolution, including the removal of burdensome negotiations and top down imposition of new structures. National economic growth can ultimately only be achieved if every local economy is firing on all cylinders. Only with the right powers and adequate long-term funding which allows councils to plan properly, can we play a lead role in unlocking the labour market, building new affordable homes, creating jobs, plugging skills gaps, and delivering on other key government priorities.”

Phil McCabe, Merseyside and Cheshire Development Manager at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said- "The Chancellor has today taken very welcome action on late payments, small business rates, and self-employed taxation. Small businesses and the 16 million people who work for them are the route to future growth that will raise living standards across the whole country. The Chancellor and his Treasury team deserve credit for driving pro-small business change and for listening to and working closely with FSB and its small business members to address the real concerns of businesses, and acting to help build future prosperity. We also welcome support for manufacturing and green industries, with extended Investment Zones, freeport tax relief, and a new £150 million Investment Opportunity Fund particularly encouraging for inward investment in Liverpool City Region and Cheshire and Warrington."
 
With regards to businesses and late payments, Phil McCabe said:- “The Chancellor is right to have condemned from the despatch box the scourge of late payment practices. Driving out the worst payers from Government contracts and increasing the reputational risk faced by those large corporates who use their small suppliers as a form of free credit is not only the right thing to do to lessen the absolute stress and strain so many business owners face; it is also the way to increase the amount of working capital small businesses can put to good use building up their businesses and investing in the future. This is real leadership on this issue and we look forward to continuing to work with the Government, including the Business Secretary, to drive out bad payment practices."

Phil McCabe, continued with his comments adding:- "Business rates are 1 of the absolute worst taxes faced by small firms. Size matters when it comes to rates, and the Chancellor is absolutely right to have concentrated his firepower on helping the smallest firms at the heart of so many communities. Thousands of pubs, cafés, and small shops in high streets across England will be pleased today with the bold, measured, and targeted support from the Chancellor to help them through troubled times and build towards growth. FSB’s teams in the other UK nations will now be pressing their relevant devolved governments and decision makers to use any consequential funding to extend similar support to these hard pressed sectors in their own economies. Meanwhile, by acting to help small businesses with premises through freezing the small business multiplier, the Government has prevented an inflation linked hike for many of those in the supply chain and other sectors too. This will also help to make the rise in the National Living Wage more affordable. FSB will work with the Chancellor and the Treasury to take stock of what firms need before the rise comes in."

When it came to self employment, the FSB Merseyside and Cheshire Development Manager, Phil McCabe, commented:- "The UK's 4 million self employed people play a hugely important role in the labour market and in building growth across the whole economy. The Chancellor’s decision to reduce the rate of self employed National Insurance, and abolish the Class II element, are extremely welcome, easing the burden on strivers up and down the country. FSB has long campaigned for the abolition of the Class II element of National Insurance and the reduction of Class IV, and we are therefore pleased that the Chancellor has acted."

Phil McCabe, concluded:- "FSB will be looking in more depth at the full details arising from today’s Statement, including the various consultations and plans announced. When it comes to late payment, business rates, and self employed tax, it is unquestionably clear that the voice of small business has been heard today. This game changing small business package shows the prioritisation of pro-growth measures where they will do most good, while getting the best bang for the taxpayer buck. We will continue to engage with all of the main political parties across the UK as we head towards next year’s General Election to make sure that policy proposals from all sides work in the best possible way for small firms. The UK’s 5.6 million small business owners are a large and motivated part of the electorate."

The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) responce to Chancellor's Autumn Statement came from the SIBA's Chief Executive, Andy Slee, who told us:- "After the double digit increase in beer duty only months ago, independent breweries will heave a huge sigh of relief that duty is now frozen until next summer, allowing the new alcohol duty system time to bed in. The Business Rates discount being extended will also be welcome news for community pubs and taprooms, though a full reform of the system is still needed in the near future. However there are a number of missed opportunities; firstly the decision to not extend draught duty relief, which could have provided a much needed festive boost to our community pubs and independent breweries. Secondly there has been no announcement of support for small independent breweries seeking to meet the Government set Net Zero Emissions targets. Breweries are increasingly conscious of their environmental impact and it is essential that targeted grants and subsidies are in place to encourage this."

Bradley Post, MD of RIFT, commented:- “At last, a chancellor that actually looks and feels like a chancellor dishing out some much needed respite on taxation both for business in the form of an extension to tax deductibility on investment and for the self employed, plus a significant gesture on individual National Insurance payments. Today’s electioneering gifts should go someway in helping the nation’s small businesses, with the average employee earning £35,000 now saving £450 each year due to today’s cut in National Insurance contribution by 2% to 10%, plus a welcome boost to drinkers given alcohol duty frozen until August. But will it all be enough to lift the economy as a whole as Jeremy Hunt has forecast in his speech? Only time will tell."

With regards to AI Investment, CEO and Founder of ID Crypt Global, Lauren Wilson-Smith, has concluded that the:- "£500m invested into innovation centres to make the UK an AI powerhouse may be considered by some as money spent to hasten the demise of mankind. So let us hope that this funding is as much to 'Police Artificial Intelligence' progress as it is to promote it. While AI presents a wealth of positive opportunities, it remains in its infancy. So it's important that any investment involves regulatory measures to ensure that the growing prominence of AI doesn’t jeopardise our online identities and our safety, which have become increasingly prominent in our everyday lives."

The Co-founder and CEO of Searchland, Mitchell Fasanya, said:- "Great to see the government’s commitment to delivering much needed new homes by way of nutrient mitigation schemes, freeing the planning backlog, and local authority fund investment. This certainly goes against the previous head in the sand approach that’s been adopted when it comes to actually addressing the housing crisis by improving supply rather than fueling demand. Of course, we’ve heard many promises of a similar vein before and so we can be forgiven for welcoming today’s news with a degree of scepticism."

Also, CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, commented:- "Last Christmas, the Government gave us property market turmoil as a consequence of the mini budget. This year, they’ve saved us from further tears, but they haven’t given us much else to shout about.”

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, responded:- "Another underwhelming Autumn Statement where the housing market is concerned. Much like unwrapping a pair of socks on Christmas Day, it lacked imagination and left us feeling largely disappointed. It’s clear they have run out of ideas when it comes to addressing the current issues plaguing the property market. Hardly surprising when we have housing ministers coming and going more frequently than the postman."

CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, commented:- "Today's budget was a missed opportunity to help kick start a property market that has been looking a tad lethargic of late. Higher mortgage rates and wider market uncertainty have caused the market to cool as a result of a drop in buyer activity and we were hoping that the Government would offer up an incentive to entice them back into the fold."

Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, Chris Hodgkinson, also added:- "We've grown accustomed to the Government announcing housing market incentives designed to fuel demand and so an absence of any such initiative today will come as a shock. Instead, they’ve uncharacteristically decided to address the burning issue of supply. While this will do little to ignite the property market in the short term, it will be beneficial in the long run, provided they actually deliver on their promises...."

When it cam to Inheritance Tax, Managing Director of Final Duties, Jack Gill, responded:- "Hopes of a inheritance tax cut have been dashed today, with the Government instead choosing to pander to the masses in order to boost popularity ahead of the next General Election. This is disappointing given that inheritance tax is no longer a tax on the wealthy and more and more of us face falling foul of it as our estates grow in value and become liable. This is largely due to the over stimulation of the property market in recent years which has pushed house prices to record highs. With property forming the majority of the average person's estate, the increase in the value of their property is pushing them into inheritance tax territory. Given that the UK's Government is largely to blame for such an out of kilter housing market, you’d have thought they would make amends by reducing their inheritance tax grab; a grab that has seen the total sum of receipts paid increase by 17% in the last year alone."

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