Wubi News

Simon Jack: Businesses left asking - what happened to growth?

2025-11-28 01:00:07

Not a single measure in the government's policy-packed Budget will change the growth forecast for the next five years - that was the damning assessment of the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Reponsibility (OBR).

For a government that has declared economic growth as its top priority it is surely a disappointment.

Worse than that, although the OBR upgraded its growth forecast for this year – it downgraded them every year thereafter till 2030.

Although businesses were relieved they didn't get clobbered the way they did at the last Budget - at which they were handed a £25bn employer national insurance hike – genuinely significant pro-business measures were thin on the ground.

Little wonder many business leaders are asking: "Where is the growth?"