Despite companies’ ambitions to grow and thrive in the UK, the changes made in Rachel Reeves’ Budget have held many back from doing so.

Rain Newton-Smith, CEO of the CBI, told delegates at the CBI conference: ‘The rise in national insurance and the stark lowering of the threshold caught us all off guard.

‘Along with the expansion and the rise in national living wage which everyone wants to accommodate and the potential cost of the Employment Rights Bill, they put a heavy burden on business.’

Newton-Smith also pointed the spotlight on the retail and hospitality sectors, saying many have gone into ‘crisis containment’ since the Budget, saying ‘firms that have been through really tough years are now in damage control again’.

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