We need more help if you want growth

NEARLY three weeks have passed since the Chan­cel­lor (and the OBR) revealed her Budget, which appeared to pander more to back­bench Labour MPs than to busi­nesses try­ing to nav­ig­ate a com­plex trad­ing land­scape. But for many of our 200 mem­bers in the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) , the dam­age was done long before then. All Rachel Reeves did was rearrange the deck­chairs on the Titanic, while mak­ing only super­fi­cial changes to appease busi­ness. Pre­vi­ous gov­ern­ment policies on employ­ment costs and escal­at­ing energy prices had dealt a severe blow to com­pan­ies sup­ply­ing crit­ical com­pon­ents to the auto­mot­ive, aerospace, renew­ables and defence sec­tors. With yet another increase in the National Liv­ing Wage and changes to salary sac­ri­fice pen­sion con­tri­bu­tions, fur­ther bur­dens are now being placed on our mem­bers. This Gov­ern­ment claimed to be elec­ted on a man­date for growth, yet noth­ing announced on Novem­ber 26 will change the down­ward tra­ject­ory of the UK eco­nomy. Many com­pan­ies have seen price increases because of the stealth nuc­lear levy on elec­tri­city bills, being used to sub­sid­ise the con­struc­tion of Sizewell C – and the fin­an­cial strain will only con­tinue in April with the next impend­ing energy blow set to be delivered. This could add tens of thou­sands, even up to a mil­lion pounds, to bills. Many firms may struggle to cope. Labour’s Indus­trial Strategy out­lined energy sup­port for a fur­ther 7,000 com­pan­ies but not until 2027; and it’s a drop in the ocean when you con­sider there are five mil­lion busi­nesses in the UK. Energy bills sup­port must be for the many, not the few! As to people, Busi­ness Sec­ret­ary Peter Kyle prom­ised to address our con­cerns about the Employ­ment Rights Bill and the Gov­ern­ment has at least U-turned on offer­ing all work­ers the right to claim unfair dis­missal from their first day in a job. This change is very wel­come and will res­ult in employ­ers tak­ing on more staff. However, many ele­ments of the Bill will prove extremely costly to busi­ness and may strangle recruit­ment inten­tions. These need to be reviewed and amended if Labour really wants growth.

Stephen Morley , Con­fed­er­a­tion of Brit­ish Metal­form­ing