William Lees-Jones, managing director of Manchester-based JW Lees writing on LinkedIn said the Government’s Budget did “nothing to encourage entrepreneurs and private businesses”.
He said: “JW Lees has survived the challenge of lockdowns and the energy crisis and now, just when we were finding our feet and had an ambitious £20m investment plan for 2025, we face the greatest challenge of our lives – the removal of Business Property Relief (BPR) by this Government.”
Flawed plans
Lees-Jones added his company would be doing everything it could to remain a family business, and was proud to have created over 1,000 new jobs in the last 30 years.
“The recent budget is anti-business; it does nothing to encourage entrepreneurs and private business which are the engine of the UK economy. Business is becoming global and people will leave the country; the UK Government needs to back-track on the proposed changes to BPR and Agricultural Property Relief (APR).”
He said the Government’s plans were flawed: “The removal of BPR and APR will only bring in an estimated £500m per annum to the Government or 1.21% of the total £41,170m impact of the recent budget, but the Government modelling is flawed and businesses and farms will be forced to sell out to pay these taxes.
“No-one minds paying tax when a sale happens and capital is realised but BPR allows families to pass on the company or farm within the family so that the enterprises can grow, creating more jobs and giving workers job security since they are working for a family concern rather than a ruthless multi-national, plc or private equity. It’s what colleagues tell me every day - people love working for family businesses.”
Existential threat
The managing director added the firm would have to take the other measures introduced in the Budget in its stride.
He continued: “We’re not happy but will reluctantly ‘suck it up’ and pay the increased Living Wage and NI Contributions to pay for our public services. But the changes in Business Property Relief represent a real threat to the very existence of family businesses like JW Lees and this is worth fighting for.
“I hope that Government are reading this since it’s not too late to change the detail of BPR in the budget since at present it is an existential threat to many businesses and farms that are integral to the prosperity of the UK.”
Less-Jones urged all businesses to take up the call and write to their MPs lobbying for the Government to change course.
