Business leaders throw their weight behind Osborne's cuts

Oct 21 2010 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post

Business leaders in the West Midlands threw their weight behind the Chancellor’s focus on cuts rather than taxes but admitted that the devil remained in the detail about the consequences of the spending squeeze.

Katie Teasdale, head of policy at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (BCCG), said there was also cause for relief that improvements to Birmingham New Street Station and the city extension to the Midland Metro will be preserved.

She said: “We have to prioritise creating an internationally competitive taxation regime in the UK if business is to flourish here. Today gave us the headline figures. We will be waiting anxiously to see how 7.1 per cent cuts year-on-year in the Department for Business, Innovation and skills, for example, will breakdown and the impact it will have on enterprise.

“Clearly the cuts announced today are severe and will impact across the board. Half a million job losses in the public sector between now and 2015 will have a significant effect on the private sector as will inevitable cutbacks in private sector contracts.

“We must now ensure that we all - business and government - have a laser beam focus on creating the conditions for growth which will help the private sector to pick up the slack and genuinely rebalance the economy.”