The UK leasing industry has made no secret of
its disappointment at this year’s budget.
For the Finance & Leasing Association
(FLA), the Budget has missed a chance on SME investments.
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Julian Rose, head of Asset Finance at the FLA,
said: “While any support for business is welcome, the government’s
announcement of an increase to the annual investment allowance has
missed the opportunity to help the majority of cash-strapped
British businesses to invest via leasing.”
He pointed out that 750,000 UK small
businesses need new equipment which they haven’t been able to
afford so far, but are not going to benefit from the measures
announced.
“Whoever wins the election needs to look
seriously at alternative finance options in a credit-poor economy,”
he said.
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions’ head of
operation Tim Bowden commented that there were “no great surprises
from Alistair Darling, who did his best not to rock the boat ahead
of the impending general election”.
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By GlobalDataFor Bowden, while partially deferring the 3p
fuel duty increase was positive, the government “did not reverse
the previous increase put in place when VAT was at 15 per cent, so
this still represents a double blow for motorists”.
He added that the creation of a green bank
with £2 billion to spend on greener energy and transport
initiatives was welcome, but there was still lack of clarity on the
proposed zero benefit-in-kind rate for electric cars.
For Edward Rimmer, CEO at Bibby Financial
Services, the Budget proposals for small businesses weren’t enough.
He said: “Darling’s list of four measures designed to support small
and medium-sized businesses simply doesn’t add up. Nor does the
package go far enough to help UK businesses play their part in
driving economic growth.”
He said that while the proposal to get
state-owned banks RBS and Lloyds TSB to free up their credit to
improve access to finance from SME was good news, this didn’t
ensure that “business owners know where to go or are truly able to
use this stimulus to get the cash flowing”.
