Budget is tough but storm could be weathered

The national debt needs to be urgently addressed, and as a result we have seen the toughest Budget announced for 30 years.

With increases in VAT and huge cuts in public spending, many could be forgiven for feeling somewhat nervous right now.

But the general feeling from the Bexhill business community is that the town has the potential to outride the storm.

The thinking of the Coalition government appears to be that declines in trade for smaller businesses due to the VAT rise might be offset by cuts in corporation taxes.

Brett McLean of the 1066 Federation of Small Businesses makes the point that smaller, local companies will have to pass the cost onto the customer while large organisations have a greater cushion to absorb the rise.

Everybody of course is on a budget, however the best way to support Bexhill's traders is - if you can afford to - to use their services rather than those of the big firms and shop local.

Rother's head of finance Robin Vennard is quite right in the sense that we are all in this mess together.

Cross-party co-operation over town centre?

SPEAKING of the Coalition, it's interesting to note the steering group for the town centre regeneration project will be cross-party and "as inclusive as possible".

This, we are told, will also take into account the views of the people of Bexhill.

Will we see the spirit of co-operation which has dominated the relationship between the Tories and Lib Dems in Westminster so far?

One would like to think so.