Britain’s most prominent business group has urged Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves not to put the country on a “road to certain decline” with a series of tax rises in her budget this week.
Rain Newton-Smith, head of the Confederation of British Industry, said on Monday that companies’ “biggest fear is if we get the wrong choices on Wednesday, more short-term tinkering, more bold choices not made, more politics over growth.” Newton-Smith’s call for restraint came as Business Secretary Peter Kyle acknowledged that tax hikes in Reeves’ first budget last year had led some ultra-wealthy Britons to leave the country.