Belfast Briefing/Francess McDonnell:It may be the season for unwrapping long awaited presents but it appears Gordon Brown will be in no mood to play Santa Claus to the business community in the North this year.

In years gone past there was only one thing the business community wished for at Christmas - peace.

Now politicians, community groups and business leaders are trying to create a new and very different future and everybody agrees the economy lies at the heart of that.

Without prosperity and jobs the political process will be undermined.

That is why business, community and political leaders from every side have been arguing passionately that the best present Gordon Brown could give the North is a new rate of corporation tax.

It is not the answer to all economic problems but it would certainly make the task of winning new job-creating, inward investment a lot easier.

At the moment the rate of corporation tax stands at 30 per cent, compared to 12.5 per cent in the Republic.

This clearly puts the North at a major disadvantage when it comes to competing for new jobs on the island of Ireland.

Several months ago Gordon Brown appointed Sir David Varney, a former chairman of the British revenue and customs, to investigate the case for a reduction in corporation tax in the North.

Yesterday Sir David ruled out any possibility of changes to the tax regime.

But in a surprise and unexpected move the British government announced details of a second review that will "focus on identifying further measures to promote private sector investment".

Sir David's 136-page report on his first review comes to the conclusion there is not a clear and unambiguous case for changing corporation tax in the North.

He remains convinced that thanks to the peace process the North can "potentially emulate the economic success of the Republic" without a fundamental change to its tax regime.

Sir David says that reducing corporation tax in the North would cost the British government around £300 million (€418 million) a year in revenue.

It would also open up the case for changes to corporation tax structures in Wales and Scotland.

Sir David's emphatic rejection of changes to corporation tax rates will be seen as a major setback for the Northern Executive's ambitious plan to create 6,500 jobs by 2011.

The promise of a second Varney review, which "will explore in more detail how the Northern Ireland private sector can be expanded", was little consolation yesterday to the business community.

The Institute of Directors said the business community had waited a long time on the Varney Report and in the end it had delivered very little.

The organisation, which speaks for small businesses in the North, also voiced something of the sense of betrayal which many felt on publication of the report.

Wilfred Mitchell, policy chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses in the North, said:

"His report ignores the central question of how an economy such as ours which has endured nearly 40 years of violence can attract foreign direct investment without having the tools to do the job."

In the last few weeks Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have been working hard to promote a new image of Northern Ireland to potential investors, particularly those in the US.

Their efforts have received a lot of support particularly from organisations such as the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States.

It is not just because of the season that Northern Ireland has been on the receiving end of goodwill gestures.

But as Larry Handeli, an executive director of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States, points out, goodwill only goes so far.

"There are many factors which make Northern Ireland an attractive investment location - property, skilled labour, young highly intelligent people but the fact remains there is a preferential tax rate in the South which is very positive for investors.

"Everyone now has the impression Northern Ireland is open for business. It is not on a level playing field when it comes to the tax issue but we will continue to do all we can to help promote it."

In the North it appears that at this festive time there is room at the inn for any potential investor - the only problem is they may not like Gordon's rates.