Budget day 2024 has been and gone, with many of us now thinking, what next? Ian Mean MBE shares his thoughts on the budget, what it got right, and what it missed.
Did you notice that mention of the South West was sadly lacking in the Chancellor’s Big, Big Budget?
There were lots of mentions of the North and the North West as the recipients of help from government but just one quite vague mention of the aerospace sector in the South West.
I noticed a mention of Derby but that-in geographical terms-was the nearest to us. Did I miss something?
Missing out in government recognition -in my view- is becoming far too frequent for this region.
I was hoping that Gloucestershire might get a mention for the exciting plans for the development of the mini nuclear reactors—or SMRs-on the decommissioned nuclear power station sites at Berkeley and Oldbury.
No mention at all. But we got name checking of railway line investment around Manchester and in Yorkshire.
The lack of government focus on this region must give us a wake-up call-that more than ever it will be important for our devolved local and regional leaders to make the case for government and the private sector to invest here and grow Gloucestershire’s economic potential.
Business West welcomes the government’s mantra to “Invest, Invest, Invest” through our key areas of economic growth-particularly with a commitment to supporting our region’s vital industries such as aerospace, advanced manufacturing, creative industries and clean energy.
We recognise that the government faces a tight fiscal position and have had to make hard decisions.
However, we are really concerned that raising the tax burden on the business community could hinder the government’s much sought after growth and undermine company investment.
And we also welcome measures for small business such as changes to the employment allowances and business rate relief for our region’s retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.
But such fine margin industries-where employment costs form a large share of their cost base-will be disproportionately impacted by these extra employee contributions.
We are now promised an industrial strategy by the new government. The next steps following this big Budget will be vital if real growth is to be delivered.
By Ian Mean,
Business West Gloucestershire director