Budget is a 'kick in the teeth' for gift firm

For Laura Nixon, the biggest impact of Wednesday's budget will be the increase in business rates that she pays on her gift shops in north Staffordshire.

She will see relief due on her bill fall from 75% to 40% next year, an annual cost to her business of £36,000.

Companies will also pay National Insurance at 15% on their workers' salaries above £5,000 from April. It is currently 13.8% on salaries above £9,100.

The speech by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, included tax rises totalling £40bn, which she said were needed to fund the NHS and other public services.

Asked how she felt about not being defined as a "working person" - the group the government said it would protect from new taxes - Ms Nixon said: “Personally I’ve been working two jobs.

"I am the epitome of a working class person, it does feel like a real kick in the teeth’’.

She is co-owner of Keep it Local, with gift shops in Longton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and a pop-up outlet at the Potteries Centre.

They employ ten staff across the three sites, which are stocked with goods made locally by artists and producers in and around Stoke-on-Trent.

She agrees with the Budget announcement raising the minimum wage, but said businesses like hers would feel the pinch when costs rise, as spending on gifts would be one area of spending that customers would quickly cut.

“We fall into a gaping hole within what’s being offered," she said.

Craig Taylor owns Bobby’s Ice Cream Farm in Werrington and Taylor’s butchers in Trentham and Bentilee.

He told BBC Radio Stoke the rise in employers' National Insurance contributions would be detrimental: across his businesses he will now need to find around £600 per employee each year, amounting to about £6000.

Craig hopes to make up the costs by keeping customers spending with the right offers: “It’s a big hit. It’s going to make us have to sharpen our pencils. I’m confident we’ll make it work.”

Reeves said the rise in National Insurance announced on Wednesday was "difficult", but the right choice in order to fund public services.

Firms have warned such extra costs could ultimately impact the government's goal of growing the UK economy.

But the chancellor said the "only way" to drive growth was through investment, warning "there are no shortcuts".

"We are asking business to contribute more," said Reeves. "I know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses."

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