Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt presented his Spring Budget to the House of Commons for the final time before the next general election.
Among the measures he announced were a cut to National Insurance by 2p, an increase in the VAT payment threshold for small businesses from £85,000 to £90,000, and an extension to the Recovery Loan Scheme (to be renamed the Growth Guarantee Scheme) until March 2026. National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed (Class 4) will be cut from 9% to 6% from April.
Talking to Islington Now, Jerry Lay, a sole trader who runs a café kiosk on Upper Street, was “not impressed.” He criticised the insignificance of the measures, and the tax burden he faces. “It’s too little, too late. I’m paying tens of thousands in tax and getting a few quid back.”
Similarly, Derek Owen, who has co-run Tribe Contemporary Rugs on Cross Street since 2001, was also disappointed by the new measures.
“I thought it was the last throws of a dying regime…a scorched earth policy, because they know full well, they won’t get in next time.”
Mr Owen told us “They’ll tell you, until they’re blue in the face, that they’ve got it all down, that the economy is on the turn. It’s been in recession for how many months? But it’s on the turn? They said that last time. Don’t think we’re all stupid.”
Mr Owen was pleased that the government have kept business rates down but viewed that as an exception to an otherwise gloomy picture. Marco Wouters, who runs Angel Flowers on Upper Street, also said that low rates have been “good for small businesses” struggling to bounce back after the pandemic amidst the cost-of-living crisis.
In our conversations with other small business owners in Islington, Islington Now found that reaction to Hunt’s final Spring Budget before the next general election was similarly despondent. This was reflected in the response of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Policy Chair Tina McKenzie to the Budget. She said on their website that “many will have understandably hoped that there would be more measures announced today that would help ease the tough decisions small employers are having to make day-in day-out to keep their businesses going.”
