CIA welcomes Osborne's Budget statement

Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget statement has been welcomed on behalf of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry by chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) Steve Elliott.

Ahead of a meeting with businesses in the north west of England, Elliott said: “The measures announced on business energy tax reform, regional science audits and productivity — coupled with infrastructure investment — will be eagerly awaited by the businesses in our membership. The UK chemicals sector is the fastest growing in Europe and it is essential that these initiatives help strengthen that performance.

“In our submission, we urged George Osborne to stop and look at the cumulative impact of green taxes and I am pleased he has agreed to do that. The energy intensive industries need to see reductions in the UK’s ever-escalating policy related costs, which will hit investment and productivity if we do not take action now. While welcoming a sovereign wealth fund for communities that host shale gas development, I want to see further urgent progress to deliver this unique opportunity for our country and for local people to benefit.”

He added: “We also stressed the need for public innovation expenditure to be strengthened, and I hope the regional science audits will lead to that and not get side-tracked from the global challenge and opportunity facing UK chemical businesses and the country.”

Elliott, who will confirm on Thursday that the chemical and pharmaceutical sector has improved productivity by 10% since the beginning of the crisis, welcomed the productivity plan and looked forward to further engagement on this.