by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Chancellor George Osborne's Budget failed to hit the spot with most Kent bosses.

Shepherd Neame's Jonathan Neame derided the maintenance of the beer duty escalator as "economically illiterate".

Andy Golding, chief executive of Kent Reliance, based in Chatham, lamented the failure to extend zero stamp duty for first-time buyers to homes of up to £500,000.

He said: "Every time somebody buys a house, that's a decorator and estate agency employed. It you get the housing market working well, people feel confident to build extensions and keep the economy buoyant."

There was nothing for savers, he said, and he was worried about the removal of age-related allowances - the so-called granny tax. Pensioners had already lost substantial interest on their savings, he added.

The Freight Transport Association, based in Tunbridge Wells, slammed the 3p-a-litre fuel increase in August - saying it condemned UK industry even higher fuel bills and operational costs when the world price of oil stood at a four-year high.

Martin Varley, a partner in the corporate team at law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore, based in Tunbridge Wells and Dartford, said the rising cost of fuel would devastate business and cause spiralling overheads in every sector.

Rodger Broad, director of the Institute of Directors South, welcomed tax cuts but said Mr Osborne had to go further to "fire up the engines of the economy".

Kent-based financial consultant Alyson Howard added: "I'm very disappointed, given what a mess we're in. Why waste time on such a political Budget? There was very little for business. It was all playing to the gallery."

But Paul Wookey, chief executive of inward investment agency Locate in Kent, welcomed the cut in Corporation Tax to 24%, saying it would make the UK more attractive to overseas investors "and make an even more persuasive case for Kent".