At a Glance
- Essex Chambers reflects on a successful Festival of Business at Chelmsford City Racecourse
- Concerns and hopes around the Chancellor’s latest Budget and its impact on business confidence
- Overview of devolution, a new elected Mayor, and what this could mean for Essex businesses
- Call for residents and businesses to respond to the consultation on local government reorganisation before 11 January
At Essex Chambers everyone is still buzzing after our recent Festival of Business, held not in Southend but at Chelmsford City Racecourse – although many attended from Southend.
This annual event has got bigger and better every year, with on the 5 November over 1000 people coming along to celebrate the best of business and enterprise from across the county – and some just to bask in the presence of our keynote speaker George Clarke, TV’s restoration guru, and breathe the same air. It’s beginning to feel a little like Christmas, particularly in the current cold snap, but there is plenty to occupy us in the run-up, including:
The Chancellor’s Latest Budget
At the time of writing, a week ahead of the Budget speech, we are hopeful that this will be easier on businesses than last year’s, which hit many employers hard. We continue to hear stories of businesses not hiring because of uncertainty over the tax landscape they are operating in and it’s clear that uncertainty and the perception of it are in themselves at least as damaging as actual decisions; both have real impacts. This year it has been worse than normal because of the constant speculation, much of it fired by the Chancellor herself, about what might or might not be in the Budget. It does not inspire confidence. Maybe there is something in the suggestion coming from some quarters that we should drop this annual set-piece bit of theatre and do things differently and in a calmer way that doesn’t cause such market turmoil.
Devolution & Local Government Reorganisation
We are continuing to keep our members informed of how the election of a Mayor in the Spring of next year is likely to affect them. Candidates are beginning to emerge and we hope to be able to grill them at some point in the new year on what they would do to support business. We will not publicly endorse any one candidate but delivering economic growth and better public services will be central to the Mayor’s role. Business has a key stake in both so we will want the Mayor to be a positive force for change and be able to work with all relevant parties to deliver a compelling vision for these. And if Essex can attract new investment and more and better jobs then residents will benefit too. At the Chambers we are strong supporters of the principle of devolution and look forward to working with the Mayor, whomever that may turn out to be.
Have your say now!
On 19 November the government opened a consultation on local government reorganisation in Essex and other places. We covered this in the last issue, setting out the four options for Essex, which are described in some detail here:
https://www.essexlgrhub.org/proposals
The consultation runs until 11 January and all four options, including the 3-unitary model proposed by the county council and the 5-unitary model put forward by Southend, are still in play. We would urge everyone to have a look and make their views known
Finally, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
If you have any comments or questions please contact Iain McNab, (Head of Policy)
at iainmcnab@essexchambers.co.uk