Visiting with local organisations, charities and care providers following the budget announcement last week, has confirmed my feelings that the Chancellor’s proposals will impact Chichester’s businesses and constituents in many ways.

The government clearly recognises that many aspects of our public services need more investment something the Liberal Democrats have long been calling for. We’re glad the Chancellor has listened and has found £22.6bn more for day-to-day spend in the NHS and I’ll be holding the Government to account to see that funding makes serious improvements to healthcare in the Chichester constituency.

However, my concern is that the Government is still ignoring the elephant in the room; the crisis in primary care and social care. Increasing employer National Insurance rates will have unexpected and devastating consequences for many health and care operators.

This increase in costs will be hard felt by hospices, care providers and GP practises across the constituency. Local surgeries such as Southbourne Surgery, Langley House Surgery and Selsey Medical Practice have already reached out to me and St Wilfrid’s Hospice in Bosham will be facing a further deficit of £170,000 due to the NI increase.

Jess Brown-Fuller with St Wilfrid’s Hospice Chief Exec Lois Howell

The Government are also harming family farms in the Chichester constituency, who have endured one shock after the other in recent years – from the impact of Russia’s invasion on energy and feed prices to the previous government’s poor trade deals. The latest “family farm tax” has dealt them another blow, especially as they’re also making real-term cuts to the DEFRA budget.

Small and medium businesses in Chichester and across the constituency will no doubt continue to feel frustrated that the reform to the business rate system has been kicked down the road, and the reduction of RHL relief from 75% to 40% will be disappointing news to thousands of businesses.

While permanently lower rates for hospitality, leisure and retail is a step in the right direction, there are countless small businesses that need their tax burden reduced too – for example manufacturing. These higher business rates, along with the combination of higher NICs, will be too much for some SMEs to survive.

Jess Brown-Fuller MP: 'The devil is in the detail' in Government budget