Brown lures business to inner cities
Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced new tax breaks to lure businesses to deprived inner cities and regions of the UK.
Addressing the Labour conference in Brighton, the chancellor promised details of the incentives that would be published in his autumn pre-Budget report.
To help make an enterprise economy open to all, he announced that for high unemployment in cities and regions the pre-Budget report would propose tax cuts allied to spending increases ‘to replace depravation with enterprise, poverty by employment, neglect by new business’.
Labour aides said that Brown was committed to full employment and attracting investment and industry to inner cities and deprived parts of the country and away from the prosperous South East of England.
These tax incentives would help parts of Britain ‘long forgotten’ by Whitehall and the City, Brown claimed.
The incentives are likely to be skewed to small firms and those operating in hi-tech fields such as IT, software, electronics and communications.
- During his speech to conference, Brown ruled out ‘blanket, irresponsible tax promises’, but hinted at pre-election targeted tax cuts. Following the speech – which prompted a five-minute standing ovation – speculation mounted that Brown may broaden the 10p income tax band and raise allowances to help the lower paid.