Speaker 1: The Chancellor announced a raft of infrastructure projects with forms
Speaker 1: of pensions, benefits and trade deals yesterday. Joining us now
Speaker 1: is someone who was in the room when she made
Speaker 1: that speech, Chevoron Havlin, Director General of the British Chambers
Speaker 1: of Commerce. Good morning, Chavorn, thanks for your time. You
Speaker 1: have called this a clear marker. You welcomed the Chancellor's
Speaker 1: push for growth, but it won't deliver in the short term,
Speaker 1: will it.
Speaker 2: It will deliver in the short term and lots of
Speaker 2: different places. Remember this is a really difficult time for business.
Speaker 2: Natal insurance increases are going you know, coming in place
Speaker 2: in just a few weeks, so tax rises for all businesses.
Speaker 2: So it was really good to see the Chancellor focus
Speaker 2: on economic growth. Airport expansion, Heathrow, Doncaster, Sheffield new Road,
Speaker 2: rail low attempts crossing East West rail and rebalancing the
Speaker 2: planning system as you were outlined.
Speaker 3: So those things will have not just there are a great.
Speaker 2: Signifier, global signifier of confidence and the direction we're traveling in.
Speaker 2: You know, big infrastructure projects, as you say, take a
Speaker 2: long time, so you need to start now. But remember
Speaker 2: that indicator for the small and medium sized businesses in
Speaker 2: those supply chains will already give them confidence to think
Speaker 2: about investing now and growing their businesses now so they
Speaker 2: can supply those into those infrastructure projects.
Speaker 4: But Tavon, is it going to be enough. Those businesses
Speaker 4: are worried about how they're going to pay for the
Speaker 4: national insurance rise coming in a couple of months time.
Speaker 4: The budget has been very difficult and we've seen that
Speaker 4: reflected in both business and consumer confidence figures.
Speaker 3: The budget has been very difficult.
Speaker 2: It has, and especially if you have a business with
Speaker 2: a large employee base, it is going to be very hard.
Speaker 2: Our businesses are telling us they're going to have to
Speaker 2: put up prices if they can. A lot of them
Speaker 2: have already put up their prices. That's going to be tricky.
Speaker 2: They're going to take it in their margin, which means
Speaker 2: lowersment or they're going to slow down recruitment and none
Speaker 2: of that is good. But you remember, at the same
Speaker 2: time in the budget the Chancellor also said to mitigate
Speaker 2: against those issues, we need more opportunity for business and
Speaker 2: she talked about getting Britain back to building homes, hospitals,
Speaker 2: energy infrastructure, and so you know, the announcements yesterday are
Speaker 2: a really good step in that direction.
Speaker 3: They're a really good indicator for that.
Speaker 2: Okay, things that infrastructure projects, it's not just local supply
Speaker 2: chains and local economic development. Often supply chains run all
Speaker 2: over the country. Connectivity, airport expansion. That's fantastic for trade,
Speaker 2: you know, moving our goods around the world, and it
Speaker 2: also global competitiveness.
Speaker 1: Okay, but she did not reverse the tax increases on
Speaker 1: business from the October budget. I mean, okay, you can
Speaker 1: understand why she might not do that, but she will
Speaker 1: be under pressure to do something in the spring statement
Speaker 1: potentially if her fiscal head doom disappears, it's either going
Speaker 1: to be cuts to government or it's going to be
Speaker 1: more tax increases. Are you expecting more tax increases to come?
Speaker 1: Do you want her to do, let's say something that
Speaker 1: would be much more business positive, lower corporation tax in Britain.
Speaker 2: We well, I don't know what she's going to do
Speaker 2: in the spring, and we're definitely not expecting any tax
Speaker 2: increases for business. She's been pretty clear that that was
Speaker 2: a what did you call it yesterday, once in.
Speaker 3: A generation tax increase.
Speaker 2: However, there are other places where she can help business,
Speaker 2: so we've asked her to accelerate her review of business rates.
Speaker 2: Business rates are the tax that you pay on property,
Speaker 2: so really hard. If you're on the high street, you know,
Speaker 2: before you've even sold a single product, you're paying tens
Speaker 2: of thousands in tax. So how she can review business
Speaker 2: rates and change those more quickly to help our high streets.
Speaker 3: And actually, you.
Speaker 2: Know the other thing is the quickest way to grow
Speaker 2: our economy is through trade. Our biggest trading partner, the EU,
Speaker 2: is still really hard to move goods over the border there.
Speaker 2: What is the government doing more quickly to help businesses
Speaker 2: who are trading around the world.
Speaker 4: Okay, Chavon, thank you very much for joining us. Chavonne Havlan,
Speaker 4: Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce,