Businesses are battening down the hatches ahead of next month's Budget

UK businesses are putting investment and hiring plans on ice ahead of next month’s eagerly anticipated Budget, fearful the Chancellor will squeeze business to plug the UK’s fiscal shortfall for the second time in as many years.

According to a fresh poll of small and medium-sized businesses, more than four in five (84 per cent) bosses are worried about the prospect of further tax rises hitting their bottom lines, even after the private sector stomached the majority of last year’s historic £40bn tax raid .

And in a further sign of executives’ nervousness, three quarters of respondents also admitted to putting off major decisions about hiring and investment until after the Chancellor’s announcement on 26 November.

“T

See Full Page