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General Election 2015: What does the election mean for businesses in the north-east?

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We are now only days away from the most closely fought general-election in generations.

The lack of an obvious outright winner means all parties have been wooing voters with promises to reduce personal taxation, freeze energy bills and increase the state pension by at least 2.5% every year.

All of these commitments will resonate with individuals, but businesses in the north-east are also being offered various incentives from each of the parties.

Oil and gas

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat government introduced tax reforms in both the 2014 Autumn Statement and 2015 Budget for the oil and gas sector.

Both of these coalition partners has promised further action to support the oil and gas sector, although they don’t clarify specific plans in terms of taxation.

Labour is committed to the development of a long-term oil and gas strategy, which will include specific proposals to maintain stability in the tax system.

On carbon capture and storage, which is crucial for this region, given the plans at Peterhead Power Station, all the political parties have stated their support for developing the technology.

Taxation

Corporation tax has been a major bargaining tool for the parties, with the Conservatives stating they will deliver the most competitive tax system in the G20 group of major economies.

The Lib Dems have said they will not increase corporation tax and will instead introduce a supplementary charge on the banks.

The SNP continues to support a cut to corporation tax in Scotland if this area is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, however, it was a surprising omission from their manifesto.

Infrastructure

This remains one of the key issues which chamber members want the next UK Government to tackle and the proposed City Deal for the region will go some way in addressing the current gaps in the region.

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed in the 2015 Budget that negotiations for a City Deal for the region could begin.

The initiative has also been backed by the Lib Dems and SNP, which is also committed to pushing for the creation of a £300million Scottish Cities Fund to be paid for by the UK Government.

Immigration

Chamber members have told us they want to recruit skilled foreign workers if they are the best people for the job, but they are being prevented from doing so by the current immigration rules.

While Labour, the Conservatives and UK Independence Party want tighter controls on immigration from outside the European Union, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Greens propose reinstating the post-study work visa.

This would allow foreign students studying at a UK university to remain in the UK after their degree if they secure work related to it.