UK chancellor says budget will look at cutting "cost of business"

(Alliance News) - UK Chancellor John Healey has said his budget will look at cutting "the cost of business".

In an interview with The Times, he said he was "conscious" that businesses were also suffering under the cost-of-living crisis.

"I want to be a chancellor who backs business in Britain making a profit, and those entrepreneurs who, in the end, are the ones who challenge the status quo, come up with innovative ideas and are trying, some of them through sheer bloody-mindedness, to keep going through these sorts of pressures," he told the newspaper.

Healey also said firms had been under "a lot of pressure" in recent years.

He continued: "And so when I talk about the cost of business, and recognising that in the same way as we're recognising the cost of living pressures, I'm conscious of that as I go into the budget for both businesses and households."

UK government borrowing rose by more than expected to GBP24.5 billion for last month, underscoring the constraints in the public finances ahead of the chancellor's budget.

Healey is expected to increase bank taxes as higher borrowing costs weigh down on fiscal headroom.

By Press Association Political Staff

source: PA

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