In today's emergency Budget the Chancellor’s decided to press ahead with November’s punitive hikes in flight tax of over 50 per cent. The rises mean that from November a family of four travelling economy will pay up to £340 in tax to fly from the UK. A family flying premium economy will pay up to an eye watering £680. The decision to continue with the rises announced by the previous Labour Government was buried in budget forecasts contained in the main Budget document.

EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois warned this week that there is shortage of skilled workers for the aerospace industry in the UK. As reported in the media, Gallois voiced his concern that the aviation industry is having to look to India, China, USA and Singapore because of the lack of British skilled engineers. As he said, "if we want a strong industry, we have to have engineers." The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, gave a major speech to the Cass Business School this week, and his comments make for interesting reading in the light of the concerns expressed by EADS. Cable made clear that his central task was "to make sure Britain is a place where enterprise and innovation are made easier...where people have the skills we need." As he explained how government would do this, Cable said that Britain must make it easy to invest from abroad. This echoes previous comments from Chancellor George Osborne, who stated that the UK is "open for business."