DEEP suspicion that Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget was more of a pre-Prime Ministerial event aimed at his own party than an economic one was expressed today by the business community of York and north and east Yorkshire.

Some clauses brought smiles to the faces of the region's business movers and shakers, but generally they were more concerned about what was not in the budget than what was.

Chris Harrington, chairman of the North Yorkshire Institute of Directors, said: "This was much more of a political event than an economic one.

"What happened to the suggestions of significant cuts in red tape? There are all but 200 expert panels and 14 departmental measuring monitoring groups to assess red tape, an exercise costing tens of millions of pounds, yet nothing to show for it in this budget. That's bad news for the 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses in Yorkshire which are less able to cope with the bureaucracy than large corporations."

Len Cruddas, chief executive of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said the Chancellor's emphasis on boosting skills in science and innovation and the expansion of the research and development tax credit were both welcome, but he described the budget as "expectedly neutral."

He said: "We have worrying levels of debt and seem to be basing our ability to manage on Mr Brown's forecast for economic growth of 2.75 to 3.25 per cent for 2007 - 2008, but this seems ambitious, especially as the Bank of England assessment is lower than his own."

Chris Glen, policy chairman of the Yorkshire Federation of Small Businesses, complained: "Where was the answer to our constant plea for the simplification of the tax system? The Chancellor was unlikely to do anything controversial in what could be his final budget."

Professor Ian Graham, deputy director of the York University-based Centre for Novel Agricultural Products and chair of biochemical genetics was particularly impressed by the government's plans to sign up an extra 3,000 science teachers and fund after-school science clubs in 250 schools.

He said: "We still need lots of bright young people going into the sciences, particularly biosciences."

The Chancellor's announcement that cars with the lowest rate of emissions would pay no vehicle excise duty while the one per cent of polluting gas guzzlers would pay £210 was welcomed by Russell McGrath, sales manager of York Toyota, at Clifton Moor, who now expects a surge in inquiries about the new Toyota Prius with its 60 miles per gallon hybrid electricity and petrol-powered engine.

He said "We also sell Toyota Cruiser and Amazon four-by-fours, but they range in price between £28,000 and £50,000. Those who can afford them won't be daunted by a rise of £40 per year on their vehicle excise duty," he said.

Updated: 10:58 Thursday, March 23, 2006