‘We’re already at peak government inflicted costs’ BT chief warns

BT boss Allison Kirkby

The boss of BT has joined a chorus of chief executives urging the Chancellor not to raise the costs of doing business at her forthcoming Budget, warning the telecoms industry was “already at peak government inflicted costs.”

In an on-stage interview with City AM at the Connected Britain conference on Wednesday, Allison Kirkby said: “We pay in business rates, energy levies and other costs associated with regulation and compliance ten times the amount our peers pay in countries like Germany and the Netherlands.”

Kirkby said investors “need certainty that they’re going to get a return on that investment and they get that certainty through stability on regulatory and fiscal policy.”

“We’re going into what could be a very difficult Budget for the Chancellor,” she