"We would have liked to see more going towards cycling": Frog Bikes co-founder disappointed by little "encouraging kids to cycle" in budget

The co-founder of children's bike manufacturer Frog Bikes has expressed disappointment at the lack of spending measures incentivising cycling in Jeremy Hunt's budget.

Jerry Lawson told the BBC that while he thought there were some "positive" things in the wider budget, and accepted that the national insurance cut would be "really positive" for Frog employees, the announcements he would have liked to see that would have encouraged children to cycle were missing.

"There's no VAT on kids clothing... so why is something like sports, bicycles in particular, having VAT on it?" he asked. "As a bicycle manufacturer, we were really looking at incentivising more people to do cycling and there was a lot of money [for that] in past budgets... and it hasn't been restored having been removed last time.

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"We would have liked to see more going towards cycling and encouraging kids to cycle."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt's budget announced on Wednesday saw fuel duty frozen for the 14th year in a row, a measure which the Conservative MP said would save the average British household £50 a year.

It is a freeze that is expected to cost the Treasury around £5 billion, but one which Hunt claimed differentiates his party from Labour whose "mayor of London wants to punish motorists even more with his ULEZ plans".

It was a measure criticised by cycling charity Cycling UK and leading think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The IPPR said the fuel duty freeze would "disproportionately benefit the wealthiest drivers", forcing those on lower incomes or who do not drive "into unaffordable transport costs".

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"The fuel duty freeze is just tinkering around the edges of the costs our transport system places on households. It also drives up carbon dioxide emissions and makes meeting our climate commitments even harder," Maya Singer-Hobbs, a senior research fellow in energy, climate, housing, and infrastructure at the London-based think tank, said.

"This budget has been a missed opportunity to invest in affordable alternatives to driving, despite the huge appetite across the country for investment in public transport and desire from many to travel more actively."

Likewise, the budget came in for criticism from Cycling UK who said the government is "repeating its long-running mistake of under-funding and short-term thinking on sustainable transport".

"The National Audit Office (NAO) told the government last year it wasn't investing enough to meet its own 2025 targets for walking and cycling, even before it slashed dedicated funding for active travel by two thirds last March," director of external affairs Sarah McMonagle said.

"This financial black hole, coupled with the stop-start nature of funding, is preventing local authorities from investing in cycling and walking schemes that we know create green jobs, boost economic growth and make our streets safer, in addition to the many health, wellbeing and environmental benefits.

"Instead, the Chancellor has made another short-term focused decision to extend the fuel duty freeze, a poor value for money policy that has been shown to disproportionately benefit the wealthiest in society.

"It's time the government took a long-term, integrated approach to transport policy, investing to give people more transport choice, including affordable, safe, and reliable alternatives to driving."