The Chancellor should use the up-coming Budget to do more to stimulate manufacturing, a Midlands tax expert has urged.
Graham Apperley, Tax Director at the Midlands office of national audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill, said it was the best way “to pull this country out of its economic predicament”.
The three big problem areas for manufacturers were the shortage of skilled workers and the associated need for a comprehensive apprenticeship system, the difficulty of accessing bank finance and the on-going issue of red tape.
He said: “The Government has sought to address all these matters but needs to do far more.
“It should put manufacturing at the very heart of its economic policy and I am not convinced that has yet happened.”
Mr Apperley said that fuel prices were a further concern.
“Diesel and petrol costs are once again on the increase and threatening to hit unsustainable levels.
“Such charges go straight through to the bottom line, pushing up overheads. And at its most basic, it makes it more difficult for staff to afford their journey to work. If we want to get people back into employment then this is a particular drag on the ability of business to create jobs.”
Crowe Clark Whitehill will be running a breakfast seminar on the Budget on Friday, March 23, at the West Bromwich Albion ground at which Mr Apperley will be speaking. The seminar will be chaired by Midlands Managing Partner, Johnathan Dudley.