Business leaders have urged the chancellor to put business first in next month's Budget.

In its submission to the Treasury the CBI has warned Gordon Brown there will be more cuts in investment if he ignores the needs of industry.

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

Ruth Lea, head of policy for the Institute of Directors told ePolitix.com: "We warned at the time of the last Budget that the huge increases in public spending would fail to deliver radically better public services without reform and jeopardise the public finances if the economy faltered.

"We also expressed concern about the large increases in the National Insurance contributions that, in addition to all the other tax increases implemented in recent years, undermine the economy's competitiveness by squeezing business. We now feel that our warnings have been vindicated.

"Public services do not seem to be improving despite the large increases in spending, the public finances are deteriorating rapidly and the competitiveness of the economy is being damaged. It is time to rethink economic strategy."

Forum Response: Business Services AssociationNorman Rose, director-general for the BSA, told ePolitix.com: "Digby Jones rightly highlights in the CBI budget submission that business is overburdened and bound by unnecessary red tape. This unduly constrains its capability to deliver added value to the economy."The chancellor's greatest contribution to the wellbeing of the economy as he prepares his Budget would be to listen to business and then to identify unnecessary regulation and abolish it."Tax breaks are an essential component of the strategy he needs to employ, but they must be matched by a commitment from companies to invest adequately in both people and equipment. This approach will be of particular assistance to smaller companies, which are the backbone of British business and the foundation for future business growth."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, told ePolitix.com: "With the current trend of slowing retail sales and static prices, the sector cannot withstand an onslaught of increasing taxation and government-based rises in the cost of doing business without serious consequences for retailers and the UK economy as a whole.

"Our biggest concern is the that the proposed new regime of Stamp Duty would take £1.4 billion from the sector over the next three years. Proposed reforms would not only push up the existing cost of Stamp Duty by raising the tax take, but also by including new up-front payments, undermine the ability of new retailers to enter the market.

"In the current retail climate, the industry cannot go on absorbing increases in taxation and cost. The chancellor needs to act to stimulate consumer demand, not suffocate the success of the one reliable engine of growth in the UK economy."