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Chancellor ‘fails to deliver’ says CEA

24 March 2022

Chancellor ‘fails to deliver’ says CEA

The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) has branded the chancellor’s spring fiscal statement yesterday as having under-delivered and of being “an exercise of smoke and mirrors”. 

Suneeta Johal, CEO of the association said: “This mini-budget was an opportunity for Rishi Sunak to take significant action to help businesses to minimise the impact of rising inflation, which is at a 30-year high and continues to rise.” 

She added that, while petrol and diesel prices have soared in recent weeks to record levels and that the announcement of a fuel duty freeze and a temporary cut of 5p per litre was welcome, “in reality, it will do very little in the way of easing the burden on the construction sector, where despite extensive lobbying, Government has ignored pleas for a delay of the reform of the red diesel and biofuels rebate.”

Suneeta Johal said that the VAT cut on expensive energy-saving measures like solar panels and heat pumps offered marginal benefits and that the pre-announced National Insurance increases for employers and workers would be an additional burden. 

She said that the increase in the employment allowance for small businesses to £5,000 was a welcome tax cut worth up to £1,000 for half a million companies,” but added that “it was immediate help our sector needed – and once again Government failed to deliver." 

Similarly, Kevin Minton, chief executive of the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) said: “Regrettably our calls for the super-deduction allowance (SDA) to be extended were not acted upon in the Chancellor’s spring statement. We are also disappointed that there has been no acknowledgment of the hardship, and no relief given, for companies in our sector adversely affected by the change from red diesel.

“The Chancellor recognised the need for business investment in the UK to rise; however, UK plc cannot wait for government action or plans in the Autumn Budget - we need to see that now,” he added.

● Hours before the chancellor’s statement, the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast that the UK could face its biggest drop in living standards on record as wages fail to keep pace with rising prices. Rocketing energy prices and supply disruption in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could push inflation to a 40-year high of 8.7% in the final three months of 2022, it said. 

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