Eighty per cent of directors give Osborne the thumbs up
EIGHTY per cent of company directors support George Osborne’s emergency Budget, according to a survey.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) said four out of five members backed the chancellor’s plan for the biggest fiscal consolidation in Britain’s peacetime history.
Of the 640 directors surveyed, 83 per cent said the measures would have a positive impact on the British economy, while 90 per cent said it would be effective in reducing the fiscal deficit.
The vast majority (82 per cent) said they were more positive about the UK’s long-term economic outlook, although just 61 per cent said it would have a beneficial effect in the short-term.
Directors particularly welcomed plans to trim the headline rate of corporation tax by one per cent a year until it hits 24 per cent in 2014-15, with 92 per cent backing the measure.
IoD director-general Miles Templeman said support for the Budget had been “emphatic” largely because of “more competitive and simpler taxation”, although he said some measures would be painful for businesses.