Budget A Missed Opportunity

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Apr 2003

Local MP John Thurso, speaking today at the House of Commons immediately following the Budget said:

"The Chancellor has missed a golden opportunity to secure jobs in the North by failing to give any real help to business.

The Chancellor used much of his speech to restate changes already announced earlier in the year. The much vaunted help for businesses turns out on close examination to be tinkering in the margins with little genuine help for struggling businesses. For example, he said nothing about the crippling burden of employers' liability insurance, nor are there any measures to lighten the load of red tape which takes so much time.

I do however, welcome the announcement regarding petroleum revenue tax relating to use of pipelines for new third party contracts. It is clear the Chancellor recognised the damage he did to the off-shore industry last year and this will help to some extent. However, he missed another opportunity to create a fiscal regime which would genuinely assist new entrants to exploit all remaining reserves.

I obviously welcome the increase in winter fuel tax payments as well as the decision to allow pensioners to retain their full pension for 52 weeks. However, the Chancellor has stuck to his complicated credit system which clearly deters many pensioners from claiming the full range of benefits that are rightly theirs.

Over all, the Chancellor has clearly been boxed in by his own failure to invest in the past and the current state of the world economy. This is very much a holding budget. He is gambling on a speedy return to growth in world trade, which if it does not materialise, will leave him facing some very hard choices next time."