“The big question is has this taken business forward. The government had to meet three criteria with this statement in terms of being temporary, targeted and timely. It has gone some way towards meeting the first two of these with a range of measures to help business cashflow.
“However, in terms of being timely there are a number of factors at play before this can be delivered. In particular, it is essential that government takes action to ensure that the acceleration of capital spending is carried out quickly and is directed towards ensuring that UK based companies benefit. It is also vital that pressure is maintained on the Banks to deliver support for lending. But business will be asking if this goes far enough and if it can be delivered in a timely fashion.
Looking forward Martin Temple added:
“Looking beyond the current crisis business will be concerned that the increase in national insurance contributions is not the beginning of a trend towards increasing taxes on business.”