East Midlands Chamber has given its reaction following the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.
The Budget was delivered shortly after the Chamber launched its Framework for Growth to an audience of East Midlands firms at Leicester City Football Club’s King Power Stadium.
The document outlines policy asks to political leaders, across areas like Infrastructure, Skills, Connectivity and Investment and follows detailed research and engagement with firms across the region, aimed at enabling the region to thrive.
East Midlands Chamber Director of Policy and Insight Richard Blackmore said: “Business looks for stability and there were no rabbits out of hats that hadn’t already been trailed, revealed in this Budget. The currency within business is confidence and having a Budget that is relatively light on major announcements allows business to continue planning.
“Funding announced for apprenticeships for under 25’s is something I welcome from this Budget and will be useful for SMEs wanting to explore that opportunity. Lacking in the Budget, though, were any solid incentives for business to invest, whether on energy transition or capital projects – a missed opportunity to stimulate economic growth.
“We didn’t see much change on business rates, where root and branch reform is needed and while the Chancellor talked of planning reform, which was encouraging to hear, the actual delivering of it, swiftly and efficiently, now needs to happen with local resource given to planning departments.
“These are among key policy asks in the Chamber’s Framework for Growth and launching that publication to an audience of East Midlands firms as the Budget was delivered emphasises the importance the region’s firms place on growth. The publication was an important and timely step in getting attention from Government and political leaders, setting out what business has said it needs.
“From here we begin a process of working with regional MPs and with local stakeholders to share the insight and data from so many firms across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire whose views, alongside the detailed research carried out in our Quarterly Economic Survey, contributed to and built this landmark document.
“The Framework for Growth points to the levers that will deliver growth over the next 12 to 24 months in the East Midlands. I look forward to this being a strong campaign where the voice of business is heard clearly on one hand but we also see measurable impact on economic growth.”
To view East Midlands Chamber’s Framework for Growth in full, click here.
