Businesses welcome the coalition agreement

But the party leaders and MPs weren’t the only ones biting their fingernails, the impact of the result was also nervously awaited by small business owners.

Now, with a new coalition government in place, small businesses might be able to breathe a sigh of relief. But what can we expect from the new government in charge?

While the increase in VAT seems inevitable, employers should be pleased by the scrapped one per cent increase in employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the income tax threshold increasing by £1,000 in April 2011. But with an emergency Budget on Tuesday 22nd June should we be counting chickens just yet?

The Federation of Small Businesses chairman, John Walker, welcomes the certainty that the Coalition Government provides to businesses and the markets and looks forward to working with the new Government ministers.

‘We are pleased that coalition negotiators have listened to the business community and plan to reverse the proposed one per cent increase in NICs for employers,’ he said. ‘A healthy increase in personal tax thresholds is something that FSB has been urging for some time. This will not only provide more disposable income for the lowest paid workers, but will also encourage businesses to take on more staff.’

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) director general, David Frost said that it was looking forward to working with the new coalition government and that it would judge the new administration on what it did to promote business recovery.

‘Fixing the public finances must be at the top of the agenda,’ he said. ‘The Conservative-led coalition must be absolutely clear about where spending cuts will fall, and about the need to curb relentless growth in the size and cost of the public sector.’

So as research reveals that 93 per cent of small firms want the Govt to set out robust plans to deal with the deficit, we’ll just have to wait and see what effects further cuts could have.

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