East Midlands Chamber’s renewed call follows Andy Burnham’s first conference speech as Prime Minister, in which he outlined plans for the launch of ‘Great British Grid’ to tackle energy costs, alongside plans to tackle youth unemployment and prioritise AI.
East Midlands Chamber Director of External Affairs Richard Blackmore said: “While the Prime Minister’s conference speech rightly acknowledged the challenges of sky-high energy costs and the need to address them, firms are grappling with these costs right now, cannot wait for long-term policy ideas or to analyse them. The Autumn Budget is just weeks away and must alleviate the immense cost pressure business faces.
“Firms will be anxious having heard repeated references from both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor earlier in the week around constraints to Government finances and its commitment to fiscal rules.
“The Autumn Budget on 28th October is a key opportunity for the Chancellor to bring costs down and that must be taken so that business is incentivised to invest and growth is enabled.
“High energy costs put the brakes on business growth and stall investment so in the Autumn Budget we will want to see energy support made more widely available to business, as we have been calling for in our landmark publication The Framework for Growth, alongside measures like a full root and branch review of business rates and reductions in corporate taxation.
“Highlighting the importance of AI, apprenticeships and addressing the high number of young people Not in Education, Employment and Training, echoing the Chancellor’s conference speech earlier this week, were welcome announcements from the Prime Minister but detail matters to business. On behalf of the members we represent, we will scrutinise the implementation of policy announcements and lobby leaders as needed, as there’s a big difference between ideas and results.
“While the sentiment around getting young people into work was right, business will need to see results in that area too – that means skills challenges reduced for employers, applicants for jobs ultimately meeting the needs of employers, with apprenticeships and training programmes easy for employers to access.
“These are the kind of specifics business will be looking to see announced in the Autumn Budget, with the Chancellor seizing the opportunity to improve trading conditions for business and unlocking growth.”
View East Midlands Chamber’s Framework for Growth here.
View East Midlands Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey for Q3, 2026 here.
