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Today’s election results have been predicted for some time now and businesses have had the chance to take stock of Labour’s manifesto and how it might affect them. The new chancellor has promised to follow the established fiscal rules and trading arrangements with the EU and there seems to be little in the way of radical change. However there is a major dependency on growth levels and productivity rising over the coming years in order to keep to the plans they have outlined in the wider manifesto so the success of UK businesses is of paramount importance to the new chancellor Rachel Reeves.
There are 3 areas outlined in the manifesto that are potentially interesting for UK businesses.
- The establishment of an advisory Industrial Strategy Council to support specific sectors such as automotive, life sciences, creative and financial services allied to a national wealth fund of £7.3bn to support growth and clean energy could provide a significant boost to grant funding schemes. Of course the detail on how this will be managed and implemented in practice has yet to be clarified and the timescales for implementation are unknown
- The formation of a 10 year Infrastructure strategy aligned with industrial strategy and plans to reform planning rules for infrastructure and construction projects could help boost the sector which is a key driver of economic growth. Indeed share price rises seen today for housebuilders seem to support this notion.
- Finally the proposed establishment of Great British Energy with funds of £8.3bn to act as a vehicle to encourage private investment in clean energy alongside the drive to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030 could provide significant grant funding opportunities for the private sector.
The detail on these new initiatives should come in the first budget which looks likely to be in the autumn. So for now these are just plans so it’s business as usual. However, we will be closely monitoring the situation and will let you know if these intentions start to turn into reality and more grant funding opportunities for ambitious UK businesses come through the pipeline.
