Chancellor hunts for growth as OBR cuts forecasts

Andrew Bailey can be forgiven for gnashing his teeth during Wednesday’s autumn statement, as Jeremy Hunt repeatedly claimed credit for the work done by the Bank of England governor and his colleagues. But this was still “the biggest tax reduction package since 1988” according to the Resolution Foundation, with the chancellor spending nearly all of the £90bn of fiscal good news provided to him by the OBR. Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Jeremy Hunt has taken very welcome action on late payments, small businesses’ 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.” But keeping business rates in check for smaller shops and venues won’t help the larger ones, and wider reform for this much-hated levy – which is charged to businesses whether they make money or not – is not on the cards for now. This led the British Retail Consortium to fulminate: “Retailers and their customers have been sold out by the chancellor’s statement, which does not do enough to support shops, shoppers, and an industry that employs over 3 million people, and many more across its supply chains.” So while this was a business-friendly autumn statement in many ways, opportunities were missed and Britain’s economy continues to splutter.