Reflect on the announcements from government as part of their mini-budget

Danny Steel, Chair of Lowestoft Vision, and Paul Simon, Head of Strategic Communications and Policy at Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, reflect on the announcements from government as part of their mini-budget:

This is a bold step forward in what nonetheless must be a sustained longer-term rolling programme of pro-business reforms by the Government in order to have the desired impact on growth and productivity.

Lowestoft Vision BID businesses and our Suffolk Chamber’s members in Lowestoft will welcome both the reversal of the increase in employers’ NI contributions and the scrapping of the planned increase in Corporation Tax. These policy shifts are big lobbying wins for Lowestoft Vision and Suffolk Chamber members, and indeed the whole chamber network.

The reduction in the basic rate of Income Tax and the abolition of the 45% top rate should, hopefully, mean consumers have more money to spend, although inevitably some of this will be used to pay off existing debts.

We have already backed the Energy Bill Relief Scheme announced earlier in the week to partially protect businesses from spiralling energy price rises. But as with the package of tax cuts, we need to see a longer-term package to secure national energy generation and supply.

However, tax cuts in themselves are unlikely to transform our economy into one that is characterised by high skills, wages and productivity. We need a redoubled national programme of capital investment to achieve a generational shift in our core infrastructure: road, rail and mobile. A purposeful programme of infrastructure upgrades will be like a magnet in drawing the skills base of Lowestoft and all of Suffolk in an upwards direction, including through the Suffolk & Norfolk Local Skills Improvement Plan which is being run by Suffolk and Norfolk Chambers of Commerce.

Because of our local strengths in growing sectors such as renewable energy, transport and logistics and the land-based sector, Lowestoft businesses in particular need to be given the tools to properly do our job of fuelling, moving and feeding the national economy.

To that end, we broadly support the emerging principles behind the Investment Zones and are now working through what they might mean for Lowestoft and all of Suffolk with our public sector partners.