Gordon Banks, a former Labour Shadow Minister, has joined fellow members of the BMF 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.”
Gordon served as an MP for Ochil and South Perthshire from 2005 to 2015, including as a Shadow Minister for Business and then Scotland, and is a Director of Fife-headquartered BMF member Cartmore Building Supplies.
In an extract from his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Banks said: “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.
Total BMF membership from 1 January 2025 stands at 1,020 merchant, supplier and service companies who together have combined sales of over £51.6bn and employ nearly 198,000 people in the building materials industry. The BMF’s 535 merchant members, including 81 from Ireland, operate from just under 6,500 branches across the UK and Ireland.
