World News Today: CBI wants Budget focus on growth

Sunday, March 6, 2011

CBI wants Budget focus on growth

John Cridland is calling for an "all-action" Budget to boost jobs and investment

The CBI is lobbying the chancellor to get the UK working by showing a "relentless focus on growth" in the forthcoming Budget.

In a letter to George Osborne, the employers' organisation calls on the Government to produce an "all action" Budget on March 23.

It wants a focus on boosting export performance, investment spending and the removal of removing barriers for high-growth firms.

It also wants changes to taxation.

It says some elements of the tax system are discouraging entrepreneurship and undermining UK competitiveness.

The CBI's director general, John Cridland, said: "This Budget must demonstrate a relentless focus on growth to help get the UK working again. We need an all-action Budget which boosts exports, investment and jobs."

The employers' organisation also says it wants to see a Mittelstand of businesses - like Germany's famously efficient family owned mid-sized companies - thrive in the UK.

Mr Cridland said: "The Budget should create the framework for a Mittelstand of mid-cap businesses by ensuring they can access the capital they need to expand at home and abroad."

The group also wants changes to employment laws, including doubling the time after which an employee can sue for wrongful dismissal from one to two years to give companies more time to assess the potential of a new employee.

Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser, said: "As spending cuts put household spending under ever greater pressure, the Budget must create the right conditions for businesses to invest and grow.

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