The chancellor’s latest budget announcement has introduced changes and policies that will affect everyone.

Some business leaders believe that the new announcement will be a good thing for businesses in Cumbria, while others believe it is poorly focussed and will leave many behind when it comes to paying their bills and surviving in one of the worst cost-of-living crises in British history.

In summary, Jeremy Hunt’s budget promised an extension of the energy price guarantee from April to June, 30 hours a week of free childcare for children over nine-months-old, apprenticeships for over-50s to get them back to work, and more funding for small modular reactor competition, with nuclear power being officially considered ‘environmentally sustainable’ and green.

The budget’s focus on workers over-50 has been scrutinised, particularly as research from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported more people aged 16-24 don’t work but want to than there are over-50s, as calls for better apprenticeship funding and flexibility for employers to train their existing staff beckon from the organisation.

Linked with ONS figures published on March 14, which showed a calming labour market as vacancies drop for the eighth consecutive year, while unemployment remains at a very low 3.7 per cent showing a lack of worker availability, hopes it would boost the labour market have been criticised as being poorly focused.

Furthermore, pay is still rising but prices are rising faster as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.

Prices rose by 10.1 per cent in the last year, while regular pay rose by 6.5 per cent.

There is also a gap in public and private sector pay, with the former growing at 4.8 per cent, and the latter at seven per cent, suggesting harder recruitment and retention in the public sector.

Reacting to the budget announced on March 15 was John Stevenson, the MP for Carlisle, who said: “We’ve got difficult economic circumstances, so the budget is very targeted.

“It’s about growth, the standout thing is increasing the defence budget which I feel is important.

“What the chancellor has done on childcare is very significant, it will be welcomed by a lot of parents up and down the country.

“It's the right thing to do, if we're going to encourage young parents back to work, we have to make it easier for them to have childcare.”

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On the focus of getting over-50s back to work, he said: “They are in many respects talented, experienced, and full of life experience - it's a waste.

“If they want to be back to work and are encouraged to be back at work, it's not a bad thing. 

"Unemployment is incredibly low, in Carlisle, there's an awful lot of businesses who are looking for staff who would be delighted to have 16-24 or 50+ turning up to be employees.

“I don't think there's any problem with that.

“The difference between the two age groups is that the 16-24 get the right skills, training and opportunities, that's a different challenge, but it’s both about getting them back to work and contributing to society.”

He welcomed the extension on energy bill support, but Andy Auld, CEO at Citizens’ Advice Carlisle & Eden, said ‘it’s not all good news’ for those at the lower end of the pay scale at the end of the support scheme.

“Keeping the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 is a welcome step, but unfortunately it’s not all good news for households struggling to pay their bills. 

"The withdrawal of the Energy Bill Support Scheme will still mean the average monthly bill rises by £67 from April and, with millions already unable to afford their bills and energy prices set to remain high in the years ahead, the government must now look at long-term solutions to this problem.

"Many people, especially those on low incomes, will need ongoing support not only to pay their bills but to make their homes safer and warmer through improved energy efficiency," he said.

Suzanne Caldwell, managing director for Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, commented: “The announcements on nuclear are clearly important to us here in Cumbria, with investment in nuclear on top of that already announced for Sizewell C and the intention of 25 per cent of electricity from nuclear by 2050 positive for the nuclear supply chain, as is the announcement of the first competition for SMRs.

“It was disappointing not to hear Cumbria’s name in the list of those areas able to apply for a new Investment Zone or mentioned in other regeneration projects.”

On childcare, she said: “The measures should, over time, have a significant positive impact on drawing more parents into the workforce or enabling them to increase their hours.

“While there clearly is a need to give time for the childcare sector to grow to support this (with its own challenges in finding staff), given the acute staff shortages businesses are facing, it’s disappointing that some of these measures will take so long to come to fruition – with the 30 hours free childcare for younger children being introduced on a phased basis and not fully operational until September 2025 and full implementation of wrap-around care not expected until September 2026.”

Michael Walby, head of corporate at Burnetts Solicitors in Cumbria, described the budget announcements as a positive move for business: “I work with several businesses who had planned to make significant capital investment into machinery and technology during 2023. 

“Several them were looking to scale back that investment, with the removal of the super-deduction on 31 March, so I am very pleased to see the replacement which has been announced. 

“It allows for expensing of this capital investment which can be deducted from taxable profits.  

“This means that the planned investment by those businesses in this region is likely to continue at the same level, which will provide a catalyst for growth of those businesses, and ultimately the local economy.

“I welcome the monies being made available for new investment zones in the twelve city regions. 

“We have a very progressive University of Cumbria, Kingmoor Park and the nuclear sector on our doorstep, so I would hope Cumbria will be considered for an investment zone in the future as a way to further address levelling-up in our region.”

Labour’s candidate for Carlisle at the next general election, Julie Minns, commented: "After 13 years of Conservative economic mismanagement growth is low, prices are high, wages are down and the promise to level-up cities like Carlisle rings increasingly hollow.

“How Jeremy Hunt can talk about growth when his party crashed the economy and reduced UK productivity to the second slowest in the G7, beggars’ belief.

“In contrast to the Tory record of failure, Labour has a clear plan to deliver good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country, making everyone, not just a few, better off.”

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