Greater Manchester Chamber’s Summer Assembly focused on Labour’s first year in power and the major policies that have been announced.
Chris Fletcher, Policy Director at the Chamber, began the meeting by giving an overview of the key points of the last 12 months, including:
- Devolution White Paper
- Get Britain Working White Paper
- Passenger Railways Act
- Great British Energy Act
- Employment Rights Bill
- Autumn Budget
- Skills England
Chris pointed out that the Devolution White Paper would bring other parts of the country up to where Greater Manchester was now, which showed how our city-region was leading the way in regional devolution. He also highlighted the fact that the Employment Rights Bill would have an impact on anyone who employed staff and could make employers less likely to take on new staff. In the same way, the rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) announced in the Autumn Budget could make business less likely to employ more people and therefore counteract the Government’s aim of getting more people into work. Chris added that the other challenges facing the Government were the impact of tariffs and the rise of the Reform Party after their local elections wins.
Economic Update
Subrahmaniam Krishnan-Harihara, Deputy Director of Research at the Chamber, gave an update on the economy based on the results of the Chamber’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey (QES). He said the GM Index™ (a composite economic indicator created from QES data) was down 2.5 points, which showed there was low economic growth in Greater Manchester, as in the rest of the country. He added that there had been a significant reduction in manufacturing performance and warned that public spending was driving the economy. You can read more about the QES results here.
The economic update was followed by a summary of the Comprehensive Spending Review which earmarked more funding for key areas such as defence and the NHS, as well as regional projects like improving the trans-pennine rail link. Subrahmaniam pointed out that the money would be spent over a much longer period of time than the current parliament. He added that certain departments, such as the Home Office and Justice, had not been protected from spending cuts, which could have an impact on dealing issues such as shoplifting that are already causing concern to businesses.
Strategies and Projects
Chris Fletcher then provided an overview of the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy which pledges £775bn of investment over a decade in everything from transport and energy to schools and hospitals. He pointed out, however, that the Strategy did not set aside any funding for Northern Powerhouse Rail and only stated that an announcement would be made “in the coming weeks”.
Turning to the 10-Year Industrial Strategy, Chris explained that it listed eight priority sectors but did not include construction, social & healthcare, hospitality and logistics. Once again, there was nothing in the Strategy about Northern Powerhouse Rail apart from a reference to a future announcement.
Finally, Chris looked at the major projects that are already taking place across Greater Manchester or will begin in the coming months, including the Wigan & Bolton Growth Corridor which will provide 1m sq ft of manufacturing and distribution space.
Member Feedback
Following the presentations, attendees had the opportunity to give their views on the topics that had been covered.
Commenting on the discussion, Chris Fletcher said: “It was a great opportunity coming just over 12 months since the election to reflect on the last year with Labour in charge and look back to what we were talking about at last year’s Summer Assembly and what Labour had put in their manifesto.
“Overall, the feeling in the room was that whilst some objectives had been started there were a great number more that government needs to address quickly in addition to the impact of such decisions as raising Employer NICs in the Autumn Budget. Whilst the list of ambitions in the recent Industrial Strategy is impressive, realistically many businesses feel that they are being restricted, for example it is getting harder and more expensive to recruit staff thus making government’s overall ambition to grow the economy very difficult to meet.
“Members said they did not feel government fully understood what challenges business owners face and don’t realise the constant pressures many operate under. This isn’t unique to this government but many feel this has become more of a critical issue in the last year.
“Other issues raised, that we will be taking away and doing more work on, involved the challenges of restricting access to overseas labour especially in some vital sectors and the problems created with new visa requirements. The lack of ‘obvious’ support and strategy for people looking to start a business was also picked up coupled with ongoing issues around access to funding especially through high street banks. There was also an interesting point made around the cost of new business accommodation for smaller businesses and many new build premises proving unaffordable especially for those businesses needing more space to grow and develop.
“There’s no doubt that government is busy, the last few weeks have proven that with the Spending Review, Infrastructure Strategy and Industrial Strategy all being launched, however it is critical that action is now put in place and steps taken to help those businesses that are really feeling the pinch at present. It’s one thing government being busy, it’s another for it to be effective.”