Hopes Spring Budget will reduce 'pressure at home'

Ian Robinson, from Fox Group, said the government need to go "beyond the here and now"

A company has said it is hopeful the 2024 Budget will go some way to help reduce the "pressures" that employees are facing at home.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, is preparing for what could be his last Budget before the next general election.

Ian Robinson, a director at Fox Group which owns Hurt Plant Hire in Leyland, said some staff had no choice but to come to work "distracted" due to cost of living worries.

The Lancashire-based company employs 700 people.

Mr Robinson told the BBC they typically invest "£15m a year" in the business.

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He called for the government to look at investment tax relief, research and development credit or "any other initiatives" that support investment.

Mr Hunt has hinted that he will introduce tax cuts when he delivers the Budget on Wednesday.

The chancellor has been under growing pressure from Tory MPs to lower taxes, which are currently at a historic high.

Speaking to the BBC, he said he wanted to "show a path" towards a lower-tax economy, though stressed that he would only do so in a "responsible" way.

With a general election looming, Mr Robinson said he wanted to feel "reassured" that their investment strategies would "not been in vain".

'Productivity gap'

Mr Robinson also said "something that provides for employees" would help bridge the productivity gap and give people in work "a bit more financial certainty".

"The reality is, with the cost of living pressures our workforce have faced, there is no doubt some of them do come to work distracted," he added.

He said the government needed to put in place a budget that "supports the nation, the economy, the people that live in the UK and businesses that trade here".

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