Simon Boyd, managing director of REIDsteel, said: “I would have preferred for the Chancellor to have been much bolder in the Spring Statement.
“His direction of travel was correct but he failed to go the whole distance when it came to fuel duty and National Insurance.
“A 10 per cent reduction or 16 pence per litre cut in fuel duty was the minimum required, rather than the five per cent announced by the Chancellor.
“Scrapping of the proposed National Insurance rise would have achieved far more to alleviate cost pressures on businesses than raising the threshold and upping the Employment Allowance for smaller businesses from £4,000 to £5,000.”
Simon added: “It was encouraging to see proposals for tax cuts and measures to support business investment, training and innovation as part of the Autumn Budget, which are welcome but do not help business now, who are doing their best to recover from the forced shutdown of much of our economy for the past 24 months.”