Simon Kenney, CEO of advanced materials and metals specialist Goodfellow, explains why Labour’s first budget back in power left exporters feeling left behind.
“As an exporter of 90% of our advanced materials and metals, I think it’s fair to say that there wasn’t a lot in the budget to boost international trade. We can only hope that there will be more detail and hopefully some positive news to follow.
“I would have liked to have seen more information on closer ties with Europe, something that had been mentioned in some of the briefings. This is our second biggest market and, since Brexit, I believe we are spending more than £250,000 as a company on additional labour and duty just to cut through some of the red tape and admin we face.
“This is not sustainable in the long-term and we would welcome any initiatives that smooth out that vitally important trading relationship.
“The Capital Gains Tax rate was an expected move but will hit investors and entrepreneurs. This is on top of changes made in 2020 by the previous government who reduced the lifetime allowance for Entrepreneur’s relief from £10m to £1m, adding an additional £900k in tax for some people.
“We have a strong acquisition policy, and this could potentially slow exits from owners waiting for a more favourable tax position, despite this being unlikely in the near term.”
