Please support enterprise culture
JUST hours before tomorrow’s eagerly-awaited pre-Budget report, Tees Valley business leaders have urged the Government to offer more incentives for entrepreneurs and create a culture of enterprise in Britain.
Anthony Platts, divisional director at investment manager Brewin Dolphin’s Teesside office, said ministers could learn from the way other European countries have supported their manufacturing industries.
He has called on the Government to find a way of helping stricken Corus, which last week announced it was closing its Redcar steelmaking plant with the loss of 1,700 jobs.
“The major focus (for Tees Valley) is about Corus and what kind of support the Government can give,” he said.
“There is limited support for manufacturers in this country.”
However Chris Beaumont, partner at Darlington’s Clive Owen & Co and chairman of the Tees Valley North East Chamber of Commerce, said a state grant or subsidy would probably come too late for Corus.
He wants to see fiscal incentives that would encourage more entrepreneurs to start up or base their business in Britain.
“Lowering corporation tax for the first couple of years would help”, he said.
The pre-Budget report is expected to focus on how to tackle Britain’s growing debt mountain, estimated to grow as high as £175bn this year.
Mr Beaumont said public investment was still needed, though, to de-risk vital projects such as transport infrastructure upgrades.
“The public deficit needs reducing in due course, but there is no need to slash all budgets for the sake of it,” he said.
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