Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget speech, Jonathan Geldart, Director General of the Institute of Directors, said:
“This was a box-office Budget. Given the circumstances, the Chancellor had to be bold, and he came through for business today.
“With the coronavirus outbreak threatening a cashflow crunch, measures to cut costs and support loans to businesses are on the money. Wider reliefs around business rates and job taxes will also buoy firms as they look to weather Covid-19’s implications.
“The Chancellor is going ‘all-in’ on infrastructure. Directors have long been crying out for transport and digital upgrades, but this doesn’t mean there can be a blank cheque. The question now is how we translate that money into real improvements for local economies.
“Directors will welcome the Government fleshing out its framework for reaching the ambitious Net Zero target, but the scale of the economic transition is still being sketched out. Efforts to ramp up R&D will be crucial to help businesses reset for the long-term challenges ahead. The other key component needed to future-proof our economy, skills, is moving in the right direction but still needs development.
“The necessary focus on coronavirus does not mean other challenges have gone away. The costs of Brexit adjustment are still very real, but measures to help firms with the difficult task of preparing were notable by their absence. Without a genuine implementation period, companies cannot hope to be ready on their own for changes they can’t yet see, particularly with all attention currently on coronavirus. Pressing on with IR35 despite the manifest problems will also cause headaches among the business community, and while Entrepreneurs Relief seems to have few friends, it is described by many IoD members as a reasonable reward for entrepreneurial risk-taking.”
Previous survey results
920 respondents, conducted between 28 Feb – 9 March 2020
What level of threat do you think coronavirus (COVID-19) poses to your organisation?
|
No threat
|
5%
|
|
Low threat
|
30%
|
|
Moderate threat
|
43%
|
|
High threat
|
16%
|
|
Severe threat
|
5%
|
|
Don't know/NA
|
2%
|
Previous survey results:
1008 respondents, conducted between 19-29 November 2019.
Thinking of your primary organisation, which of the following policy areas should be immediate priorities for the new Government?
|
Preparing/supporting businesses through Brexit
|
37%
|
|
Skills & Training
|
33%
|
|
Incentives for business investment
|
31%
|
|
Reducing the regulatory burden/delaying regulatory changes
|
31%
|
|
Digital infrastructure
|
30%
|
|
Transport infrastructure
|
30%
|
|
Reducing business rates
|
26%
|
|
Lowering taxes on employment
|
24%
|
|
Lowering taxes on business profits
|
20%
|
|
Other
|
11%
|
|
Don't know
|
0%
|
Relative to current levels do you think government spending over the next parliament should –
|
Increase significantly
|
28%
|
|
Increase slightly
|
49%
|
|
Stay roughly the same
|
13%
|
|
Decrease slightly
|
4%
|
|
Decrease significantly
|
4%
|
|
Don't know
|
2%
|