Businesses went relatively unscathed in yesterday's PBR as chancellor Alistair Darling sought to raise revenue through taxes on bankers and the middle classes.

However, Darling did announce that, from April 2011, National Insurance would increase by an additional 0.5% on top of the 0.5% already planned.

Andrew Brown, corporate affairs director at the trade body, said that the measures were "counter intuitive" and constituted a tax on job creation.

"With the additional 0.5% increase in NI, the chancellor is taxing the very thing that is crucial to economic recovery," he said.

"I have never been a great fan of National Insurance, but to increase it at a time when the industry is losing jobs is a mistake and an attack on job preservation."

The Conservatives also hit out at the increase and claimed they would "work really hard" to avoid its introduction, but warned they could not commit to scrapping the rise.

Meanwhile, Brown praised the move to tackle costs in the public sector, which includes a cap on public sector pay.

However, Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke also warned that a cap on public sector pay would "create more problems" for the government.

Brown also criticised the government's decision to cut the discount on the Climate Change Levy from 80% to 65%.