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Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
Keir Starmer tells business leaders: ‘We've asked a lot of you'
Stepping on stage at the QEII Centre in Westminster on Thursday, the prime minister was full of thanks and acknowledgement of the effect the government's cost increases have had on businesses. Addressing the annual British Chambers of Commerce conference after an earlier breakfast meeting with bosses of more than a dozen companies, including Heathrow, Spire Healthcare and NatWest, Sir Keir Starmer signalled an attempt to rebuild strained relations. 'I want to begin by thanking you all because look, I fully acknowledge here that this year, as we've had to fix the foundations of our country, deal with the unprecedented mess that we inherited, we've asked a lot of you. I understand that,' he said. • 'Freeze taxes' says business lobby after national insurance hit After being wooed in the run-up to July's election victory, businesses have since hit out at the 'size and scale' of Labour's rise in employers' national insurance contributions, announced in October's budget and introduced in April. A new survey by the BCC, one of Britain's big five business lobby groups, released before its conference of mostly small and medium-sized businesses, found that a third said they have either made staff redundant or are planning to as a 'direct result' of the increase. Shevaun Haviland, the BCC's director general, in her conference speech, pressed the government to commit itself to freezing business taxes. In Starmer's charm offensive to the hundreds of delegates sitting before him in the vast conference room he gave no such commitment. But having unveiled the spending review for the parliament this month, as well as the industrial, infrastructure and, on Thursday, trade strategies, the prime minister said the government had shown a 'clear shift' to the 'next phase' of 'investing in the future of our country'. He added: 'And that means that we have to back you to the hilt. Because your members are the engines of growth in every community across the United Kingdom.' Monday's industrial strategy is underpinned by slashing the internationally uncompetitive costs of the economy's most intensive energy users and finally tackling the country's chronic skills shortage. The trade strategy includes a focus on pursuing smaller, faster trade deals with the likes of Brazil, Thailand and Kenya, rather than bigger free-trade agreements; closer ties with 'like-minded' nations such as Japan and Singapore; a £20 billion increase in the capacity of UK Export Finance, the government's credit agency for exporters, to £80 billion; and a consultation on anti-dumping measures for steel. One senior business leader, speaking privately on the sidelines of the conference after Starmer's speech, said the prime minister 'really is listening. So I think that is all positive.' But they added, talking of the broader government: 'They don't quite recognise the impact of the taxes and national insurance impact. It is significant. I mean you can't just absorb those. You have to do something about it. It is impacting jobs.' They said: 'Everybody in the room I talk to is making redundancies … so they're [ministers] going to have to do quite a lot of work on the productivity side of the balance sheet to offset what they did.' On stage, in a conversation with Haviland, Thomas Woldbye, the chief executive of Heathrow, welcomed the chancellor's green light this year for a third runway at the airport, a big infrastructure project that could boost Britain's productivity. Woldbye said Heathrow was 'central' in 'facilitating and delivering' the government's trade, industrial and infrastructure strategies. Heathrow is submitting its formal proposal to the government this summer and ministers are targeting planning permission this parliament. Woldbye said the chancellor's deadline was 'very, very ambitious' and required work on planning, as well as modernising the UK's airspace. Another significant concern of business is the government's contentious Employment Rights Bill. Starmer told the conference: 'I get the concerns,' but declined to signal further concessions as officials work with business on the reforms. The workers' rights changes will introduce day-one rights, better access to flexible working, and hand greater powers to trade unions. The prime minister said: 'Many people have recognised that a secure, protected workforce is good for business; drives up productivity.' Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, who also attended the conference and the earlier breakfast with bosses, told reporters on the sidelines that he was 'absolutely certain' the government could address the 'two principal concerns' of business — probation periods and access to zero-hour contracts — 'not through any change of policy, but through our existing approach'. • Workers' rights bill will stymie growth, not encourage it The senior business leader, who was speaking privately, said to capitalise on the productivity benefits of artificial intelligence, businesses needed to restructure the workforce and operations, yet the employment rights reforms 'as far as I can see, freezes everything … you're going to get into a very complex process'. Closing the conference, Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition and former Conservative business secretary, reiterated that the Tories had lost the trust of business before last July's general election, but citing inflation, growth and unemployment, said Labour had since delivered 'change for the worse and it didn't have to happen'. Taking aim at the employment rights reforms — a 'huge problem' — and business taxes, Badenoch said: 'The rise in national insurance is killing jobs. It is making it impossible for businesses to grow.' Seeking to 'win back trust', she told delegates: 'We have to unleash the animal spirits of business.'
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Costs have increased for almost 80% of small businesses in past six months, CCI survey says
In the last six months, 77 per cent of small businesses have seen costs increase, with staff costs most frequently noted as a cause, a survey has found. Small practices said they found coping with staff costs more challenging than their larger counterparts, with half of respondents noting it as the single biggest financial issue against an average of 37 per cent, according to the small and medium enterprise (SME) business sentiment survey. . The survey, conducted by Chartered Accountants Ireland (CCI) and business lender, GRID Finance, found that operation costs (24 per cent) and the costs of regulatory compliance (at 14 per cent) were the other largest financial challenges. The chief executive of GRID Finance, Eoin Christian, said this aligns with prior research, which found that 'rising costs, particularly staff-related expenses are creating significant pressure on Irish SMEs'. READ MORE Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of small businesses are less optimistic about the economic future than they were six months ago, with 62 per cent of respondents reporting that their business operations have been impacted by global trade tensions or tariffs. Only 14 per cent of SMEs feel prepared for a further escalation of tariffs, and 36 per cent of respondents forecast their business being worse off this time next year. Against this backdrop, 28 per cent of small and medium size businesses reported increased profitability in the last six months, but nearly the same number, 26 per cent, reported that profit had decreased. Within that sample, smaller scale companies saw greater stability, with more than half of respondents noting profitability had remained the same as the year prior. Just 40 per cent of respondents feel adequately informed about auto-enrolment, which comes into effect in January 2026. CCI's director of members and advocacy, Cróna Clohisey, welcomed the decision to defer the launch of the process until the new year 'particularly in view of the feeling of unpreparedness many businesses expressed in this survey'. 'Many remain very unclear as to what is expected of them in advance of the new system launching,' she said, calling for the Government to conduct an awareness campaign to address the 'information deficit'. Ms Clohisey also raised an 'evident mismatch between the need for supports and the uptake of those on offer' highlighted by the findings of the survey. While 40 per cent of SMEs had called for the introduction of tax relief and incentive schemes, just 16 per cent of respondents had availed of them. A similar gap existed with help meeting energy costs among the nearly 300 respondents from organisations with fewer than 250 employees.
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Agri-Food Regulator ‘concerned' at level of unfair trade practices
The head of the Agri-Food Regulator is 'concerned' by the level of unfair trading practices reported by suppliers in the industry, following the authority's inaugural supplier survey. The survey, which focused on compliance with the unfair trading regulations and general trading issues, found that the biggest issue facing suppliers was cost increases at inflation, with 70 per cent of respondents citing the problem. 'Costs are continuing to rise and we are struggling to keep pace with these cost increases,' one supplier said. Retailer and buyer challenges (24 per cent), raw material and ingredient availability (22 per cent), and labour market and wage pressures (18 per cent) were also cited frequently by suppliers as the issues facing the industry. READ MORE While Agri-Food Regulator chief executive Niamh Lenehan said there is 'a lot to be positive about' within the survey's findings, she said, 'I am concerned that 14 per cent of respondents reported experiences that they characterised as unfair trading practices.' 'In particular, it is concerning that some suppliers reported that they may not raise a potential breach of [Unfair Trade] Regulations with either their buyer or with the regulator itself.' The most common issues faced by suppliers were being forced to pay for loss or product deterioration and delayed payments. Respondents noted fears that the buyer would 'retaliate in the future' if they reported unfair trade practices, and concerns they could be 'blacklisted'. Ms Lenehan said less than half of respondents were aware that the regulator has a confidential complaint process, which she said indicates it has 'a significant amount of work to do'. The chief executive said the results of the survey will inform its work going forward and will be used in the 'development of guidelines for buyers and the conducting of further risk-based inspections with respect to compliance with unfair trading law'.
Bloomberg
17-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
When Your Favorite Restaurant Becomes a Statistic
Statistics don't hit home — until they do. At the end of 2024, Price Bailey, one of the top chartered accountancy firms in the UK, released a report saying that perhaps 6,000 of the UK's nearly 51,000 restaurants would close in a year. Of about 10,000 that were technically insolvent, the firm's risk analysis estimated that 12% were liable to default on debt. For small, family-run businesses, the litany of costs is titanic. A blog by the chef of one such restaurant lamented 'rising food costs, an increase in the national minimum wage and salaries [and] endless payments' to the British tax authorities. It got cheaper napkins, diminished the wine list, created a customer-friendlier tasting menu, reduced prices, took out more loans and fired its expensive accountants.
