UK firms plan price rises as confidence falls to lowest level since Truss budget
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BCC survey shows growing concern over planned employer tax rises with 55% of companies planning to hike prices. More than half of British companies are planning price rises in the next three months, according to research that found UK business confidence has slumped to its lowest since the chaos of Liz Truss’s brief stint as prime minister.
Of 4,800 businesses polled by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), 55% said they expected to increase prices by April, up from 39% in a similar survey in the second half of last year. There was also a steep increase in concern about looming tax rises, after the government revealed a budget in October that relied heavily on business taxation to raise £40bn in extra revenues, including £25bn more in employer national insurance contributions.
It prompted a wave of criticism from business groups, although the chancellor, Rachel Reeves has said there is “no alternative” given the parlous inheritance from the previous Conservative administration and desire for investment in the NHS and in infrastructure.
Labour under Keir Starmer has said that it is focused on making investments to boost GDP growth, but has come under fire over a series of poor economic data suggesting no improvement in the economy’s fortunes in the six months since the party took power.
The key revenue-raising measure in the budget was the increase in employer national insurance contributions, which affects almost every business, whether profitable or not. The BCC poll found that 63% of firms cited taxation as a worry after the budget, compared with 48% three months earlier.
