Kevin Tully, Managing Director of mechanical engineering firm Tulway, comments on the impact of the benefit change ahead of the announcement
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his crucial Autumn Budget earlier this week – his first since the Government lifted coronavirus restrictions during the summer.
Mr Sunak had already said public finances “must be put back on a sustainable footing” – as the Government grapples with the deficit and highest figure of government borrowing since the end of the Second World War. A flurry of pledges had already been announced by the Treasury.
In the House of Commons, the Chancellor made many more announcements – including reforms to business rates, “radically” simplifying alcohol duties, and imposing a levy on property developers to help pay for the costs of the cladding crisis.
The planned rise in fuel duty will be cancelled because of pump prices being at their highest level in eight years, Mr Sunak said.
Meanwhile, flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023.
Kevin Tully, Managing Director of mechanical engineering firm Tulway, voiced his concerns, stating: “We’ve got to find a way out of this pandemic and having already spent hundreds of billions of pounds to support people and businesses, it goes without saying that taxes will increase in order for the Government to claw back some of this output.
“I’m hoping for a higher wage economy going forward and the budget goes some way towards ensuring that. Employers need to be involved more in the training funding process, rather than simply giving large amounts of money to colleges and universities for them to up-skill and train.
“The £3bn for post-16 education to fund the skills revolution is fantastic news for our sector and for Tulway as we pledge to take on 20 more apprentices between now and 2025.
“The green agenda is also going to open up an incredible amount of opportunities for businesses across the Liverpool City Region. A lot of people don’t realise how heavily involved the engineering sector is in the process of transforming from fossil fuels to green energy, but Tulway and many other businesses like us are playing a huge role in the net zero agenda and long may it continue.”
