Business leaders in the county have welcomed this week's Budget - with one declaring there is "much to welcome" from Rishi Sunak's red box.

The Chancellor announced an unprecedented spending package in the Commons on Wednesday, dominated by a major financial commitment to fund efforts to tackle the challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Jo James, chief executive of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce said: "There’s much to welcome in this Budget for business.

"The Chancellor has listened to our calls for support to help firms overcome cash flow challenges posed by coronavirus.

"Increases to infrastructure spending and sharper investment incentives will help businesses grow over the longer-term.

"The Budget has addressed the immediate challenges facing the economy, but the Chancellor will have to do more to support businesses as they navigate changes to trading arrangements and the end of the Brexit transition period."

And she welcomed the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme initiative, which will see banks offer loans of up to £1.2million to support small and medium-sized businesses.

She said of the decision: "Accessing finance remains crucial to the lifeblood of a business and so we are pleased that the Chancellor has listened our call to maintain the flow of credit. The acid test for the scheme will be whether it is able to get credit flowing to firms who most need it, rather than the usual suspects."

Alison Parmar, regional representative of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said of the measures to tackle the health crisis: "“Covering the cost of statutory sick pay and emergency measures for the self-employed are particularly welcome.

"Removing the minimum income floor for those on Universal Credit will bring help to those working hard to keep their businesses going.

"These are vital contingencies for the UK’s 5.8 million-strong small business and self-employed community. There may need to be further steps in the weeks and months ahead. The Bank of England funding package means that there are no excuses for banks not to help, when a small business customer is in distress."

A freeze on business rates for firms with a rateable value of less than £51,000 for the coming year was also welcomed.

The FSB said: "Suspending business rates for small high street firms is a huge bonus for our town centres and high streets. Together with extra cash for those that already qualify for small business relief, this shows a real commitment to supporting small businesses at the heart of communities.

"The case for fundamental reform to bring down the burden of such a regressive tax on bricks-and-mortar businesses is now stronger than it has ever been, and FSB is ready to help the government deliver this."

Jo James of the Kent Invicta Chamber added: "While short-term business rates relief for many thousands of businesses is to be welcomed, larger firms will have to wait until the autumn for a further review of Britain's broken business rates system. This review must lead to real action to reduce high upfront costs across the board – something we have long campaigned for. Abandoning the goal of fiscal neutrality for the reforms would be an important starting point."

Thomas Newlyn, associate at law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore, which has offices in Tunbridge Wells and Dartford, added: "One of the most eagerly anticipated announcements in the Budget was the government’s position regarding Entrepreneurs’ Relief.

"Mr Sunak described Entrepreneurs’ Relief as ‘expensive, ineffective and unfair’ with three quarters of the relief going to merely 5,000 people.

"As a consequence, Entrepreneurs’ Relief is to be scaled back from a £10m lifetime allowance to a £1m lifetime allowance although Mr Sunak stopped short of clarifying when this would take effect.

"Entrepreneurs’ Relief allows business owners of two years or more to pay less capital gains tax when the business is sold. Mr Sunak’s announcement heavily impacts business owners who sell or dispose of part of their business during their lifetime and who will now pay 10% tax on all gains up until £1m instead of £10m, after which the standard capital gains tax rates apply.

"Despite the reduction, Mr Sunak stressed that he is keen to encourage risk-taking and creativity in the UK and the Government’s challenge will be to discover new methods to incentivise entrepreneurship. However, slashing the lifetime allowance from £10m to £1m is likely to dampen M&A [mergers and acquisitions] activity in the market once the changes take effect.”

Meanwhile, Duncan Cochrane-Dyet, Kent managing partner of accountants MHA MacIntyre Hudson, which has offices in Canterbury and Maidstone, says while a vow to increase the National Living Wage from its current rate of £8.21 to more than £10.50 by 2024 "is a key step for fair pay, but brings other pressures for businesses".

He added: "At a time when UK business is experiencing a raft of people-cost pressures, government-mandated minimum wage increases can cause significant challenges. The more that government rather than employers sets the ‘floor’ for workers’ pay, the harder it is for those employers to manage their own remuneration strategies and policies.

“For example, maintaining pay differentials between minimum wage workers and those who are higher paid can push up costs considerably, leaving employers with less to invest in other areas such as training or bonuses for staff.

"A significant number of businesses are also bringing previously self-employed individuals on to PAYE employment as a result of the IR35 changes from April 6, 2020. This increases the challenge around how to structure pay and reward for these new employees, but who are not new to the business, relative to existing staff, including those on minimum wage.”

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