Member Article

Darling finds North East support

After the initial reaction to Wednesday’s Budget was less than favourable, other figures from the North East business community have stepped in to back Alistair Darling’s measures. Well, sort of.

Regional Development Agency One NorthEast welcomed the Budget statement, in particular the emphasis on ‘sustainable growth and prosperity’ through encouraging business start-ups and support for SMEs.

Alan Clarke, One NorthEast Chief Executive, said: “The North East emphasised the importance of regional priorities to the Chancellor, such as responding more effectively to business priorities, effective working with sub-regions and simplifying and increasing the flexibility of skills provision. “This Budget reaffirms that the focus of the Regional Economic Strategy is in line with Government thinking on supporting SMEs, encouraging business start-ups and promoting the regional skills agenda. All of which are key in ensuring the region is equipped to meet the challenges we face, as well as make the most of opportunities.”

Accountants have their say

The North East’s financial sector was more cautious about the Chancellor’s schemes, but welcomed the fact that there were no significant changes.

Graham Redman, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Newcastle, said: “This Budget will be of some relief to North East businesses because it contained few major surprises. This was particularly important given the amount of change already in-hand. However, with 270 pages of supplementary Budget notes from HM Treasury, it does not appear that there has been significant progress towards tax simplification.”

Stephen Hall, Director of Entrepreneurial Business at Deloitte Newcastle, said: “On the whole, the Budget contains some positive measures for entrepreneurs in the UK although they fall well short of what was taken away in the Pre-Budget Report through the abolition of Taper Relief and the changes in the treatment of non-domiciles.

“As expected, the ‘Entrepreneurs Relief’ was confirmed which effectively taxes the first £1m of lifetime gains arising from the disposal of interests in trading businesses at 10% rather than at the new rate of 18% which will apply from 6 April. This translates to a potential lifetime tax benefit of £80,000.

“As we support the Government taking steps to promote entrepreneurship, the introduction of a £12.5m fund to encourage women entrepreneurs is of interest and we look forward to hearing more details about the key objectives of the fund.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .