How business owners reacted at pub Budget screening

Tax rises of £40bn were revealed in Rachel Reeves’ first Budget as chancellor, alongside a promise of £22bn for the NHS.

The bulk of the tax increase came from raising the amount employers will pay towards National Insurance contributions for workers.

Fuel duty has remained frozen, whilst the national minimum wage was increased to £12.21 from next year.

But what do people from different business sectors in Dereham, Norfolk, think about the changes? The BBC joined them in a pub to watch the Budget be delivered.

Nick Anema runs a farm in partnership with his mother just outside Dereham, with their business mainly focused on beef cattle.

Many people who work in the agricultural industry have reacted with anger to the announcement that inheritance tax relief for farms will be limited to £1m.

Critics of the change said it would mean families would not be able to be pass down farms to future generations and instead would be forced sell off land to pay the tax.

“I think the changes to agricultural property relief will concern a lot of farmers. A million pounds does sound like a lot of money, but it’s only 100 acres,” said Mr Anema.

Yet he welcomed the decision to freeze fuel duty. He said: “A lot of people are going to be relieved it’s going to be frozen.”

Jenny Wilson, a self-employed taxi driver said she was pleased that the tax on petrol and diesel would remain frozen until March 2025.

She has worked as a driver for two-and-a-half years and said an increase would have effectively been a pay cut.

With speculation that there could have been a rise of anywhere between 5p and 8p a litre, the possible hike had been a real concern for her.

“I was really expecting an injustice to working class people in the Budget, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised,” she said.

“The fuel freeze, I never expected that at all – I don’t think anyone was expecting that.”

Marvin Shalders has a few different business interests – property development, a metal recycling company and running the pub The Cock in Dereham, where he was watching the Budget with the others.

He observed the chancellor’s speech closely, as the Treasury’s plans could “have a huge effect on what I do in the future”.

Mr Shalders said the increase in National Insurance contributions for businesses and rise in the minimum wage would cost him.

Yet he said he felt better about the Budget than he expected: “I’ll be totally honest I was expecting the worst.

“To be honest, they’ve done the working man good in a lot of ways.”