The Budget left us plenty to be pessimistic over, writes Steven Nicholas, chief executive of Tiuta plc

Despite vast swathes of this year’s Budget being in the running for the world’s worst kept secret, what little the Chancellor did hold back for the day seems to have gone down like a lead balloon. The so-called ‘granny tax’ has won little support and the reduction in the top rate of tax also left many – including Ed Miliband in his reaction speech – feeling that it was a Budget for the rich that overlooked the needs of the majority. George Osborne described his Budget in his opening words as one that “unashamedly backs business””