The election was needed to spur both the main political parties into recognising the importance of investment in research and development, says the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

“For years business has urged Governments of both main parties to encourage further investment into R&D,” said EMA’s chief executive Alasdair Thompson.

“Thanks to the election this year we now have firm undertakings from both major political parties that they will work towards introducing the full expensing of R&D costs.

“Investing in R&D, and advancing technical skills and new technology underpins our economic development.

“Of course there are issues to work through on what expenses should qualify. These are unlikely to include seats at Eden Park, or attending industry conferences in Europe though both of these can be written off currently for tax purposes.

“Why our political parties have huffed and puffed for so long over this type of investment highlights the serious catch up in values needed for us to sustain a genuine knowledge based economy.

“Some commentators have even suggested the idea of the knowledge economy or an economy based on the value of knowledge is already a cliché. This ignorance is sad.

“Investing in R&D and associated skills development are costs of being in business and need to be written off as they are incurred.”

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