Former Labour Shadow Minister adds his voice to BMF concerns over taxation proposals

Gordon Banks, a former Labour Shadow Minister has joined fellow members of the BMF (Builders Merchants Federation) to raise concerns with Government over the impact of proposed changes to business taxation both on the future of the building materials sector and growth in the wider UK economy.

Mr Banks, who served as an MP for Ochil and South Perthshire from 2005 to 2015, including as a Shadow Minister for Business and then Scotland, is a Director of Cartmore Building Supplies, a BMF member, which has its headquarters in Fife.

In an extract from his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Banks says: “I appreciate you are looking for UK businesses to lead us out of the economic quagmire we have been locked in.

“However burdening the very businesses you need to grow the economy, with these additional tax burdens, appears to me to simply mean that your plan will fail spectacularly.”

His letter is one of a number being co-ordinated through the BMF to alert the government to the grave concerns being felt across the UK’s building materials sector on tax proposals.

BMF CEO John Newcomb said: “Gordon Banks’ letter is one of a number being forwarded to government from across our membership highlighting that the unintended consequences of the Budget could wipe out what it was aiming to do, which is stimulate economic growth.

“Construction is absolutely critical to the lifeblood of the UK economy, but we are hearing across the industry that the proposals in inheritance taxation, as well as the additional costs in relation to National Insurance, are likely to have a devastating impact.”

Last month the BMF was one of 32 trade and industry bodies that were signatories to a letter from Family Business UK to the Chancellor calling for a formal consultation on the proposals on Business Property Relief and Inheritance Tax.

The BMF is now working with Family Business UK, which collectively represents 160,000 family businesses and farms, to call for discussions with government on how best to address the challenges.