Budget 2014: Midland firms hope to be bored by the Chancellor

Business in the region are hoping for a ‘boring’ Budget tomorrow, according to a Midland business expert.

Certainty and stability are at the top of the Budget wish list from business, according to an EY survey, with nearly 80 per cent of companies stating that it should be a key driver of the Chancellor’s tax policy choices.

A survey of 143 business decision makers showed that while the Government’s changes to the corporate tax system are having a positive impact on the UK’s competitiveness, it risks being undermined by political and legislative uncertainty.

Andrew Spence, tax partner in the Midlands, said: “The Chancellor can be confident in the knowledge that the corporate tax regime is already bringing real jobs and real investment to the UK’s shores.

“We know of over 60 companies looking to complete headquarter relocations to the UK in the next 18 months, and expect that these may be just the vanguard.

“But the UK could be doing even better. The overwhelming message coming through from our survey is that uncertainty is limiting the impact of the good work that has been done on the corporate tax rate, patent box, and Controlled Foreign Companies reforms.”

Meanwhile, commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton has called on the Chancellor to revamp the much-maligned business rates regime to promote property development and further bolster the nascent economic recovery.

Mark Clapham, regional head of rating at LSH in Birmingham, said: “A combination of full empty rate charges and the failure to revalue has unfairly affected those sectors which most need help.

“Since the last revaluation in 2010, which was linked to a valuation date at April 2008, property values have continued to falter. There is now an urgent need to redistribute the overall burden of rates between those areas in recovery and those which are not.

“The only way to do this is to revalue urgently – we can’t wait until 2017 as the Government currently proposes. A sensible Budget will seek to address the underlying issues in the interests of growth.”