GORDON Brown’s 10th and possibly final Budget has received a mixed reaction by business leaders in Kent and Medway.

Schools have welcomed the extra investment but leading Kent firms have slammed it as a "lost opportunity."

Mike Lazenby, chief executive of Kent Reliance Building Society, dubbed it "dull and uninspired, high on rhetoric, low on content.

"This Chancellor has been good at appearing to give you things but actually taking it back from you. This is a tax and spend budget. He taxes it and then spends it.

"It’s certainly not going to do much for the people of Kent. Nothing for Kent Reliance, nothing for investors, nothing for first-time buyers, nothing for people that are finding it difficult to get on to the property ladder."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s 61-minute Budget speech focused on young people, with more investment in schools and wannabe Olympians.

There was more for "hard-working" families in terms of child tax credit and childcare allowances. Pensioners were offered free off-peak bus travel. There were tax breaks for research and encouragement of science.

While Mr Brown gave an upbeat assessment of the economy, with sustained stability and growth, Tory leader David Cameron accused him of imposing the biggest tax burden in British history.

Mr Brown spoke about the growing entrepreneurial culture. But business was not so sure. Kent’s Institute of Directors called it a "missed opportunity" to cut corporation tax and red tape.

The Chancellor pledged £970m to shared equity schemes to help housebuyers.

But Mr Lazenby said the £5,000 rise in the price at which stamp duty becomes payable, £125,000, was irrelevant when the average house price in Kent was around £220,000. Although the Budget did not raise taxes significantly, the average household was paying £9,000 more in taxes than it was in 1990, he added.

The Chancellor had done nothing to encourage savings, now at the lowest ratio, five per cent, since the 1990s.

But Mr Lazenby welcomed measures on equal pay, training women with low skills, and raising the minimum wage.