How do Sussex working people feel about the budget?

Restaurant owner Andy Sparsis says changes to business taxes could see "mass closures"

The prime minister says this autumn budget is all about supporting working people.

During the general election campaign, Labour pledged not to increase income tax, employee national insurance or VAT.

But do working people in Sussex feel they’re being protected?

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the budget 12.30 GMT on Wednesday.

Andy Sparsis owns the Fish Factory restaurants in Worthing and Littlehampton.

He says an increase to employers' national insurance contributions would cost him £10,000 and another £10,000 if the 75% discount on his business rates doesn’t continue. He was also concerned about a rise to the minimum wage.

He said: “Allow us to expand, allow us to employ people, allow us to survive and please do not remove the business rate relief, otherwise you will see mass closures.”

'Make charities exempt'

Charities say in order to survive, they must be exempt from changes like these.

Maria Antoniou, from Community Works which supports not-for-profit and community groups in Brighton and Hove and West Sussex, said: “Organisations just can’t absorb the cost, they will be letting staff go which means working people will be losing their jobs.

"And they’ll be asking staff to do more which is just detrimental to working people’s wellbeing.

Gary Waller says being a landlord is a full-time job

Are landlords working people? Government leaders struggled to answer that question this week.

Gary Waller owns eight properties in Brighton, mostly rented to students. It’s expected he, like other homeowners, could see a rise in capital gains tax, stamp duty and inheritance tax.

He said: “It is very much a full-time job. I’ve had people text me at 4 in the morning.

“You’ve got to make a profit doing all this and sometimes it can be quite tight. Ultimately, no-one has to be a landlord, they can sell up and they can go and do something else.”

Labour voter Angela Steatham says she's disappointed the government is not taking harder decisions

Angela Steatham from Chichester said she thinks an opportunity has been missed to tax the very highest earner.

She said: “The tax burden falls on those at the end of the scale with less. I feel like they are avoiding going after the big companies, like energy companies and banks, because they want an economy for growth and they don’t want to scare them off.

“But as a Labour voter I’m disappointed that they’re not taking those harder decisions.”