Chancellor Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report has generated a mixed reaction from the business community, with measures designed to help small businesses survive through recession broadly welcomed. A selection of comments are below.

British Chambers of Commerce
David Frost, Director-General

"If I were marking the Chancellor's report card, I'd say 'cold do better'. There are a few good announcements in there like deferment of the Small Business Rate of corporation tax, allowing businesses to spread out the payment of their tax bill, and the new business finance scheme.

"The proposal to increase National Insurance Contributions is wrong. At the very time when the economy should be coming out of the recession, businesses will face an extra tax on employing people."

CBI
Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General

"There are a number of measures in this report that we have asked for that will help cashflow in small businesses and business overall by reducing costs.

"The Chancellor’s growth forecasts depend on his success in stimulating consumer spending and otherwise look optimistic. On them also depends his forecasts for the budget deficit. It will be a long, hard haul to meet his deficit targets and given this, we would have hoped for an even greater emphasis on efficiency and potential savings."

Federation of Small Businesses
John Walker, FSB National Policy Chairman

“This Pre-Budget Report is a sign of the importance of small businesses to the UK economy. The Government’s Small Business Finance Scheme, which closely resembles the Small Business Survival Fund the FSB has been calling for, will provide a vital cash boost to businesses struggling with rising costs and a lack of credit.

“Many of these measures, such as giving businesses longer time to pay bills and offsetting losses, will give small businesses a welcome breather from the taxman and allow them to concentrate on sustaining their business, supporting their staff and growing the economy in the long term.”

The FSB also commented that the announcement to cut VAT to 15 per cent will be difficult and costly for some Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to implement by next Monday and the FSB is concerned the Chancellor has recouped any benefit of the VAT reduction to small businesses by tweaking fuel duty accordingly.