Clearview National January 2015 - Issue 158 | Page 12

ggfNEWS

Reaction To Chancellor’s
Autumn Statement
Chancellor George Osborne delivered
his final Autumn Statement before this
year’s General Election in May.
»»The GGF had written to the
Chancellor eight weeks before his Autumn
Statement announcement highlighting the
GGF’s campaigns and raising Members’
concerns.
In general, the Autumn Statement is seen
as a chance to set out future tax and spending
plans, as well as set out the state of the nation’s
finances. During the speech, the Chancellor
hailed Britain as the “fastest growing of any
advanced economy in the world.” He also
stated that against a difficult global backdrop,
“Britain has achieved higher growth, lower
unemployment and a falling deficit.”
Nigel Rees, GGF Group Chief Executive
commented, “As had been anticipated, it
was good to hear the Chancellor confirm
the increase in funding of £100m to support
homeowners installing energy efficient
measures in their properties. However, it
remains to be seen how much of this funding
will help homeowners install energy efficient
windows.”
“It was also pleasing to see a drive to
increase new builds and positive to hear that
the Chancellor’s statement has included some
measures that will benefit small businesses,
such as expanding the British Business Bank,
freezing fuel duty as well as doubling business
rate relief for small businesses for another
year.”
Giles Willson, GGF Deputy Chief Executive
and Director of Technical Affairs added; “Some
of our Members’ work on the correlation
between house sales and replacement windows
appears to have had some influence on the
Chancellor announcing a significant change
in stamp duty. However, it is a pity that
the Government hasn’t had some joined up
thinking on stamp duty and energy efficiency.
We would like to see the Chancellor using it as
an incentive to increase energy efficiency home
improvements. However, being optimistic,
with this change in stamp duty we