Spring statement

No news just when we want some, say business leaders

- Alex Daniel

Rachel Reeves gave a deliberately low-key spring forecast yesterday, in an attempt to project calm amid volatility abroad and after repeated tax-rising budgets. But for some business owners struggling with rising costs, a lack of policy announcements this time around was a disappointment.

Changes to the business rates system are set to come in on 1 April, while Reeves offered little relief for companies still reeling from increases to employment costs last year. Nor was there clarity on the long-delayed defence investment plan, a key part of promises to increase spending. The Guardian spoke to bosses about how the spring forecast could affect them.

Lincoln Green

Independent brewer

‘Anthony Hughes, the owner of Lincoln Green Brewing Company in Nottingham, said the longer-term economic forecasts sounded encouraging: “As a small business owner you want to believe in this.” But the independent brewer has seen costs rise because of last year’s employer national insurance hike, while a more recent tax increase on non-draught alcohol has put his trade in “a continual squeeze”.

As well as the brewery, Hughes has six pubs in the East Midlands, employing a total of about 80 people, and said inflation - still above the Bank of England’s 2% target - continued to be an issue. Footfall had fallen and fewer people were buying pints, he said, suggesting many had less disposable income. “People are going out less. That means pubs are quieter, and brewers less able to sell beer,” he said. “[Reeves] talked about real wage growth and falling inflation. The image that she painted is somewhat different to the one that I see.”

Business rates are a big problem for pubs, he said, despite a package in January designed to lessen the impacts of a rates shakeup at the last budget. “The way pubs are rated is obscene,” he said.