THE chief executive of the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce has spoken to the Welwyn Hatfield Times ahead of this year’s Budget announcement today (Wednesday).

Tim Hutchings said he is hoping Alistair Darling will cancel the proposed one per cent hike in National Insurance contributions, which he called “a tax on jobs”.

He also said he’d like to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer announce clear plans to reduce the country’s debts.

“Number one for us is to reverse the decision on National Insurance, and also looking at sensible in-roads into the national debt, because at the moment I don’t think he (Mr Darling) isn’t doing enough,” Mr Hutchings said.

“In an ideal world, we’d be looking at a thorough review into Government spending, on the basis that an enormous amount of money has been wasted on poorly focused initiatives.

“The target has been to spend the money, rather than spend the money sensibly.”

But Mr Hutchings added he was yet to see any such proposals from either the Government or opposition parties.

The Budget speech is due to be delivered at 12.30pm.