Reeves urged to help businesses

RACHEL Reeves has been warned not to inflict “death by a thousand taxes” on British business in tomorrow's Budget.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said the Government must “change course” and avoid heaping more costs on UK firms.

The Chancellor is set to hike taxes to fill a black hole in the public finances, as she faces the prospect of a downgrade in the budget watchdog’s economic growth forecast for every year of the current Parliament.

At the CBI's conference in Westminster, Ms Newton-Smith urged Ms Reeves to stand up to Labour's backbenchers to take tough decisions on issues such as cutting welfare spending. She said Ms Reeves had to prove she was committed to economic growth and make the hard choices to deliver it.