Budget fails to impress small businesses

Business groups appear largely unimpressed by Alistair Darling's first Budget.

The FSB gave the chancellor's speech a cautious welcome for its lack of "nasty surprises". It applauded the decision to postpone the fuel duty rise, which was trailed early this morning, but said that the issue of rising fuel costs was unlikely to go away.

The decision to defer new rules on income shifting, which would have increased the tax burden for many small businesses, was also welcomed by the federation.

Overall, however, it felt that the government had already "totally undermined" its position with small businesses over the last year. "Alistair Darling's first Budget is unlikely to make that situation much better, but it is a relief that it will not make it any worse," commented the FSB's national chairman John Wright.

"Finally it seems we may have an announcement from the chancellor that doesn't spring any nasty surprises on small businesses."

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) took issue with the chancellor's decision to impose mandatory charging for single-use carrier bags.

"Retailers have already committed to reduce the environmental impact of plastic bags by a quarter by the end of this year," said the BRC's Stephen Robertson. "Huge progress has been made without any need for legislation."

Green groups, on the other hand, have continued to slam the delayed fuel duty increase. Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport said: "The delay in the increase in fuel duty is a disaster and a broken promise that shows little regard for climate change or for alternatives to the car.

"A truly green budget would have taken the extra duty and invested it in better transport, especially local public transport."