But business leaders welcome measures to help oil and gas industries and further cuts to corporation tax
Banks bore the brunt of George Osborne’s revenue-raising initiatives in a budget that was otherwise welcomed by business leaders for bolstering the oil and gas industry and pushing on with cutting corporation tax to one of the lowest levels in the G20.
HSBC was expected to be hit hardest by the chancellor’s unexpectedly sharp increase in the bank levy, which he introduced in his emergency budget at the start of the parliament in 2010.
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