Proof of Hammond’s ‘populist’ pudding will be in the eating
Calum Haggerty, managing director the Coco Chocolatier shops in Edinburgh, described the Budget as “populist” with measures to help the health service in England and Wales and boost defence spending but said there had been little for those running small businesses in Scotland.
Haggerty, who started up his business making and selling artisan chocolate five years ago, runs two shops in Stockbridge and Bruntsfield in the city as well as a manufacturing centre,andemploys15staff in total.
He now exports to 17 countries, including EU and non-eu nations, with the vast majority of his business within the UK.
“Mr Hammond appears to be spending a lot and for the general person on the street it may look like money well spent. But there is actually not much on offer for ordinary people or businesses like mine. It was all a little bit disappointing with nothing of significance,” said Haggerty, who lives with his partner and baby son.
“It looked to me like being a Budget for the NHS, a Budget with headline points for England and Wales. The Barnett consequentials will only become clear in December with the Scottishbudget. One of the things which looked interesting was the change to the annual investment allowance which allows us to invest more. This is advantageous and a good move for business.
“The other thing that jumped out was the ‘Amazon’ tax. The finer details will be interesting to see but I don’t quite see it revitalising the high street.”
Haggerty said he had noted the reduced business rates in the Budget for SMES (small and medium sized enterprises) in England and Wales.
“But we’ll need to wait and see what happens on 12 December in Scotland,” he said. “I’d like to see the government get down to actual detail and do more on employer National Insurance contributions. It’s essentially a tax for us to employ people.
“Basically every employee pays National Insurance and then there is employers’ National Insurance.”
On the freeze on fuel duty, Haggerty commented: “It’s one of those things which filters down the food chain to small businesses. But we don’t have huge fuel bills.”
Due to exporting to a number of EU countries as well as other countries overseas, Haggerty had been taking a keen interest in the Brexit negotiations.
“Again, the Budget didn’t give us clarity on Brexit. Our biggest supplier used to pay in euros, but we’ve renegotiated our biggest contracts into sterling.”