A selection of trade unions, charities and trade associations have responded to today's Autumn Statement.
Member Response: Paul Kenny, general secretary, GMB
A new "Osborne recession" is the price of the failed gamble on 400,000 public sector job cuts and blaming the EU won't wash.
Many of the measures announced today are tinkering that do not address the lack of demand in the economy. The continuing squeeze on public sector pay will deepen the deflationary pressures. Proposals to cut public sector pay in already depressed regions will cut demand even further. The higher unemployment being forecast show it's not possible to deflate your way to growth and a balanced budget.
Member Response: Michael Ankers, chief executive, Construction Products Association
Improving the quality of our infrastructure has a key part to play in raising business competitiveness and stimulating economic growth and it is encouraging that the government has recognised this. Schemes like the improvement to the A14 trunk road will improve access to key ports from our manufacturing heartland and help our export drive.
At a time when construction output is falling and forecast to continue to do so for the next couple of years, the additional investment on infrastructure will help create new jobs and generate as much as £75 billion of economic activity across the economy as a whole.
Member Response: Petra Wilton, director of policy and research, Chartered Management Institute
Managers will welcome the new construction projects and investment in the UK's infrastructure, as well as the Youth Contract to help tackle youth unemployment. But there will be concerns about whether the Chancellor has gone far enough to prevent a lost decade of growth.
The Chancellor's attachment to the austerity agenda may help build business confidence in his ability to tackle the deficit, but more immediate help is needed by businesses who urgently need the right management skills in order to grow.
Member Response: Len McCluskey, general secretary, Unite the Union
George Osborne is like a pilot, who has put his plane into a tailspin, and is now wrestling desperately with the controls as the aircraft rapidly loses height.
At long last, the message seems to have half got through to the Chancellor of Exchequer that his deficit reduction programme has brought us to the front door of a double-dip recession in early 2012 – as predicted by the OECD yesterday.
This has been further compounded by today's Office for Budget Responsibility's announcement which shows growth flatlining at 0.7 per cent in 2012. With no growth, there is no agent for renewed economic activity and the extra jobs that growth engenders.
Member Response: Terry Jones, director of communications, Food and Drink Federation
At first glance this looks like a pro-business autumn statement with a clear focus on growth.
SMEs have repeatedly highlighted their concerns about accessing finance and we are pleased to hear the proposals for credit easing that should enable many of our small businesses to expand, pursue new export markets and create jobs.
The move to remove much unnecessary red tape is likely to be welcomed by the industry and we await details of where this will apply. Our members have been particularly concerned about increasing regulation on employment, so plans to exempt small employers could potential give them the confidence to consider creating new jobs.
We are already pushed to the hilt on commodity prices and escalating energy charges so the freeze on fuel duty will ease difficult operating conditions for the industry.
Member Response: Paul Smee, director general, Council of Mortgage Lenders
It is disappointing to see the government withdrawing the stamp duty concession that currently benefits first-time buyers. While the concession may not have stimulated additional demand, it was a significant help to home-owners entering the market and its removal runs counter to the themes of the new housing strategy. It is likely that we will see a bunching of eligible first-time buyer transactions early next March to beat the expiry date on the concession.
Member Response: Phil Orford, chief executive, Forum of Private Business
We welcome the announcement of 50% income tax relief and a one-year capital gains holiday for those investing in start ups under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), but the Government should have acted to encourage private lenders too," said Mr Orford. "Small firms need a range of funding options, and equity finance is certainly one of these, but lending at interest remains their preferred route by far.
Combined with these tax breaks, the Government's new credit easing scheme and an extended Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG), providing incentives for new lenders to compete with the high-street banks would be more likely to boost competition in small business borrowing markets, driving up levels of service and bringing down costs. It is a shame this has not happened.
Member Response: Stephen Robertson, director general, British Retail Consortium
Downgraded forecasts make it all the more vital that the Chancellor implements a credible plan for stimulating economic growth which helps retail in keeping inflation down and generating jobs, especially for young people.
The Chancellor has addressed a number of the concerns we raised with him. His measures should provide some help to the hardest-hit families and may go some way to reversing the trend of falling consumer spending, but the challenge for the next twelve months will be to rebuild consumer confidence and stimulate private sector investment.
A number of these proposals have the potential to help households and businesses but may not go far enough, particularly if the eurozone crisis deepens.
Member Response: Ralph Smyth, senior transport campaigner, Campaign to Protect Rural England
These new plans to build old road schemes have clearly been picked off a dusty shelf without time for much thinking. A return to building new roads in the name of job creation will lead to more traffic, move bottlenecks along rather than solving them, often at an irrevocable cost to the local environment. The idea is sadly all too characteristic of a Chancellor who has shown little concern for protecting our countryside.
Laying new tarmac to allow the building of new out of town housing and superstores is not a plan for economic success but a road to disaster. It will weaken already struggling high streets and permanently disfigure our countryside.
Member Response: Philip Parkin, general secretary, Voice: the union for education professionals
While the extra childcare places are welcome, the well-below-inflation cap on public sector pay rises, following on from a two-year pay freeze and while asking public servants to pay another 3.2% in pension contributions and work longer, is inflammatory and unbelievable.
This is a cruel slap in the face for public servants from a Chancellor living on another planet.
Member Response: Chris Cummings, ceo, theCityUK
We are pleased that the Chancellor highlighted that financial services will always be important to the UK and we support initiatives that strengthen and broaden the sources of finance available to business. We therefore welcome the Government's extension to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and this directly reflects our member's views which we expressed to the Treasury.
We are pleased to hear the Chancellor's unambiguous statement on any Financial Transaction Tax that would weaken the UK as a centre for Financial Services.
Member Response: John Low, chief executive, Charities Aid Foundation
As a major stakeholder in the UK economy the voluntary sector will be impacted by many of the announcements made today by The Chancellor including the £1bn "youth contract", the freeze in fuel duty and the review of TUPE arrangements.
The announcements on credit easing and personal investment could offer some assistance to charities struggling with limited funding and no access to capital.
Member Response: Jeremy Acklam, the Institution of Engineering and Technology
The welcome announcement of electrification for the main trans Pennine rail route today strongly highlights the urgent requirement for a comprehensive re-statement of government rail policy. Confidence is needed that the 40% UK rail efficiency gap identified by the McNulty report is really going to be addressed.
The IET calls upon the Secretary of State for Transport to publish a coherent and stable long-term electrification and rolling-stock strategy in the New Year.
Member Response: Simon Buck, chief executive, the British Air Transport Association
A double inflation hike in the tax on flying (APD) is hardly consistent with Chancellor's aim of "giving the UK the most competitive tax regime in the G20.
Instead it just makes it more expensive for hard pressed Brits to take an annual sunshine holiday, more expensive for tourists to visit Britain and less likely that foreign investment from new overseas markets, dependent on air links, will choose Britain over our Continental rivals who impose little or no similar tax on flights by business travellers.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd