COVENTRY business leaders gave a ‘lukewarm’ reaction to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget last week.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce held a roundtable event at the Telegraph Hotel to hear the views of businesses on the Chancellor’s statement.
During the spring budget, Mr Hunt said the UK was expected to avoid technical recession in 2023 before growing by 1.8 per cent in 2024.
He also revealed inflation was set to fall to 2.9 per cent by December.
Other policies included the widening of free childcare s extended household energy assistance.
Coventry and Warwickshire chamber of commerce chief executive Corin Crane said: “The Chancellor made all of the right noises at the beginning of the budget as he talked about providing stability and growth.
“The Chamber has been calling for support to help businesses recruit and there were plenty of announcements around that.
“The childcare support is genuinely exciting and that could be a really big deal – it’s just a real shame that it is going to be staged until 2025 because, as we know from speaking to so many firms, there is a real need now.
“There was something really important about the sentiment at the top of the budget in terms of avoiding recession and getting inflation down, it’s good for confidence and it also gives businesses a little more certainty as they look to plan.”
Mr Crane added the potential for an investment zone had ‘caught his attention’- but felt it was important that Coventry benefits from it.
