Higher taxes and lower business investment 'not a plan for growth', warns CBI

14 Sep 2021

The UK government faces big choices this autumn if it wants to stimulate economic growth, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said.

Following the recent government announcement on plans to increase national insurance contributions (NICs) to support social care, UK business is clear that the time for further business tax increases must end, said the CBI.

The CBI suggested that the government must reward those firms who invest, which is essential to a high-growth, sustainable recovery.

The business group has identified four key levers the government can use to get businesses investing more:

• Smarter taxation – reward those firms who invest; for example, stop punishing greening UK building stock through business rate increases.
• New skills for new markets – creating individual training accounts to access support more easily, for those most in need and/or out of work.
• Catalytic public investment – to speed up the development of major infrastructure projects, new industries and cutting-edge tech.
• Market making – replicate the successes of offshore wind in hydrogen and other emerging industries and fundamentally rebalance UK economic regulation.

Tony Danker, Director General of the CBI, said: 'We're at an inflexion point. Brexit, COVID, climate change all demand that the UK forges a new growth story to compete in the world. And believe me this will be a competition – for new markets, new skills and technological advantage.'