“No more business taxes during this Parliament” call as some hope, much uncertainty revealed in latest authoritative Suffolk business survey

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) for the period April to June 2025 reinforces the evidence from earlier waves of research that local business activity and future prospects are at their lowest level overall over the previous four years. 

“The message coming through from Suffolk SMEs in particular is clear: trading is tough, future prospects uncertain and tax and price pressures still lie at the heart of many of these concerns” said Doug Field OBE, chair of Suffolk Chamber’s Economy Group.

The vast majority of measures covered by the QES remain in negative territory, with more companies reporting declines rather than improvements.

Following changes to Employer National Insurance (NI) Contributions thresholds and increases to the National Living Wage (NLW) which took affect from April, concerns over corporate taxation continue to dominate business owners and management teams’ worry list, with 74% of Suffolk respondents expressing worries about the level of business taxes, although that is a slight improvement on the previous quarter.

Concerns about price pressures at 43% is the second greatest business concern, closely followed by business rates (37%) – in effect another tax on firms.

The employment trends balances are also all in negative territory, indicating that the trading headwinds are beginning to have a knock-on effect on business hiring and retention plans. 

Comments submitted to Suffolk Chamber via the QES include:

• “Orders have slowed dramatically, enquiries are down in certain sectors. Wages and costs have risen disproportionately with cost of services achievable in the market”
• “Confidence within our client base across East Anglia is at an all-time low”
• “It has been a trickly start to the year, with the NI & NLW increases in April, so we have then had to pass the costs on to our clients, so there have been some difficult conversations around rate increases.

Suffolk’s manufacturers reported declines in all current trading activity – ie domestic and overseas sales (down by six and three percentage points respectively) and domestic and overseas orders (down by twelve and six percentage points respectively), but encouragingly identified slight quarter-on-quarter upticks in terms of other measures such as cashflow, investment and confidence in their turnover and profitability. However, most of these remain in negative territory – only slightly less so in this particular quarter.

By contrast, service firms reported fractionally better quarter-on-quarter trading activity, but also further declines in cashflow, prospects for better turnover and profitability and capacity utilisation.

Paul Simon, Suffolk Chamber’s head of public affairs, added: “That there is some good news in the QES is certainly a cause for optimism, although it remains to be seen whether these limited improvements are a statistically blip or part of an emerging trend.

“But Suffolk businesses’ message to the Government could not be clearer: there must be no more business tax hikes - of whatever sort - for the remainder of this Parliament. We urge all of our county’s MPs to ensure that the Chancellor of the Exchequer understands the jeopardy that will be created in the county and in the country if she does not heed this clear fiscal warning.”