Chancellor 'raised more questions than answers'

Mr Richardson believes that Chancellor Alistair Darling had little room for manoeuvre, with the public finances in a troubled state and a General Election looming.

He added: "While there are little bits and pieces of good news, the Chancellor had his hands tied due to the high level of Government indebtedness.

"It's not going to make us change our business growth plans, which for the next couple of years are based on a rather flat economic environment."

Huddersfield-based FMG Support is a company which, among other roles, helps to keep traffic flowing on our busiest roads.

It hit the big time in 2008 when it won a national contract to clear Britain's roads of abandoned, crashed or broken down vehicles.

FMG snapped up the Highway's Agency's newly established National Vehicle Recovery Manager (NVRM) contract, and created 100 jobs in the process.

Working with the Highways Agency traffic officer service, FMG Support has taken on responsibility for recovering vehicles following abandonments, breakdowns and other incidents, such as crashes, that take place on 5,000 miles of roads across England.

Mr Richardson welcomed action which could help smaller companies who want to emulate FMG's success.

He said: "It was nice to see him give a push to Lloyds and RBS to set a lending target for businesses.

"As it's part of the budget, and has been disclosed to the world at large, it will give them a nudge.

"The big question for me is how will the Government departments deliver their savings targets, and what will be the knock-on effects for the rest of the economy.

"This is still not clear. People I speak to in the public sector are bracing themselves. Everybody is worried about job cuts and rationalisation.

"There's a possibility that some of the civil service jobs might come to Yorkshire, as part of the savings initiatives.

"The budget was neutral to positive in terms of confi- dence.

"I don't think it will dent business confidence."