Reeves defends his budget and urges businesses not to raise taxes any further.

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves defended the tax hikes on businesses announced in the Budget, telling them: “We’re not going to come back with more borrowing and more taxes.”

Mr Reeves told a meeting of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that although he had received “a lot of feedback” about his tax and spending plans, he had not heard much about alternatives.

Her comments came after the boss of biscuit giant McVitie’s warned that the case for investing in the UK was becoming “harder to understand” following the Prime Minister’s decision.

Last month, Mr Reeves announced in his first budget that he would increase public spending by nearly £70bn, more than half of which would come from tax increases.

Businesses will bear the brunt of the tax increase after the Prime Minister decided to increase employer salaries for National Insurance and lower the threshold for starting payments.

There has been a backlash to the announced measures, with businesses worried that costs associated not only with the April tax hike but also minimum wage hikes, higher operating rates, and new worker rights will impact employment and pay. , warns that it could ultimately affect government finances. The goal is to grow the UK economy.

But Reeves told industry leaders that her budget provided “the stability and foundation we need to move forward.”

Asked if he was confident there would be no more large-scale tax hikes on businesses, Reeves said: “I’ve faced the problem and I’ve faced it…We’ve put our finances back on solid footing and we’re going to get through this legislative session.” Set budgets for public services.

“Public services now have to live within their means, because I’m very clear that I’m not going to take on more debt or pay more taxes to come back.”

Minimum wage hikes and worker rights reforms have been praised by trade unions and workers’ groups, but bosses say companies are being squeezed by multiple changes taking effect at once and are calling for a “phase-in” approach. He said there are also calls for the same.

Speaking at Monday’s conference, CBI chief Layne Newton-Smith argued that “tax increases like this should not just be for business.”

He said the policy change meant businesses faced “an increasingly challenging trade environment”.

“When you reach profit, you reach competitiveness, you reach investment, you reach growth,” she added.

Ms Newton-Smith referred to a recent survey by the CBI in which almost two-thirds of the 185 companies that responded said they believed the Budget would damage UK investment.

Salman Amin, president of McVitie’s, said most of the investment in the past decade or so had been in the UK, but the case for investing in the UK was becoming “harder to understand”.

“What strikes me is that in the race for growth we seem to be turning our backs on the industries that have built Britain for decades,” he added.

Meanwhile, CBI chairman Rupert Soames said the Budget made it “much more expensive” to hire young, part-time, low-paid staff.

After Mr. Reeves’ appearance, he said: “Many things in the budget are useful, such as the corporation tax roadmap.

“But there is no question that this budget has been a cash cow for businesses.”

Last week, a group of major retailers including Tesco, Amazon and Next also wrote to the Chancellor warning of the impact of the tax changes.

Companies such as Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer have said they may have to raise prices for customers as they face significant rises in costs.

But some say asking multi-million pound companies to pay more tax is one of the fairer ways to improve funding for services like the NHS.

Newton Smith, director of the CBI, said: “No one is in any doubt that we need to increase taxes to actually increase the funding of public services.”

But she said businesses were taken by surprise by the reduction in National Insurance payment thresholds and the pain was “really severe”.

In her speech, she called on the government to consider a number of reforms to boost economic growth, including giving businesses more flexibility in how they use their apprenticeship levy funds.

He also said the Chancellor should consider updating business rates for commercial property, as well as simplifying the planning system.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told the CBI conference that she was concerned about the increasing tax burden on businesses.

“The new government believes that invisible businesses can absorb these costs, but ordinary people will bear the brunt of either rising prices or falling wages, and sometimes both,” the former economy secretary said. Ta.