Business Confidence Dips to Lowest Level Since Mini-Budget as Majority of Firms Blame Reeves’ Tax Raid – Guido Fawkes

Business Confidence Dips to Lowest Level Since Mini-Budget as Majority of Firms Blame Reeves’ Tax Raid

mdi-fullscreen

It’s more grim recess reading for Reeves as business confidence crashes to its lowest level (-3) since the infamous mini-budget era, according to a survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. A record-breaking 56% of firms now say Reeves’ relentless tax raids are a “growing challenge,” hammering hiring plans and killing off confidence. ICAEW’s CEO Alan Vallance warns that “tax worries have never been so prominent” and are driving “record levels of distress” in the business world. ICAEW’s Economics director Suren Thiru says:

“These figures suggest that this year has so far been a pretty harrowing one for the UK economy as accelerating anxiety over future sales performance, April’s eye-watering tax hike and US tariffs helped push business sentiment into ominous territory. Our data suggests that firms are currently responding to intensifying cost pressures with only limited price rises, but at the expense of more restrained recruitment and weaker spending on staff training, which will hinder productivity.”

Meanwhile, latest ONS figures show the unemployment rate remains high at 4.4% for the last quarter as the jobs market suffers its worst slump since lockdown. Growth, anyone?