Budget
The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget has shown commitment to a comprehensive industrial strategy and support for manufacturing at a time when Brexit uncertainties are rife.
This is according to Terry Scuoler, Chief Executive of manufacturers organisation, EEF, who said the Government’s support for innovation and new technology and a pledge to deliver an implementation plan ahead of Brexit will go some way to reassure companies as plans to leave the EU are thrashed out.
“We are delighted to see the Government's National Productivity Fund has been extended for a further year to £31 billion to upgrade Britain's economic infrastructure and the extension of the R&D tax credit increasing to 12 percent will boost business investment in future productivity and technological advances,” said Scuoler.
“The £5bn commitment to build 300,000 houses a year will not only benefit first time buyers but, with a very heavily integrated supply chain, it will be a boost for the UK construction sector.”
The EEF also welcomed the £1.7 billion Transforming Cities Fund, which the Chancellor said would be used to unlock national growth and ensure access to skills across the country, including the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine.
The announcement of a new National Retraining Scheme to boost skills and further funding for T-Levels and apprenticeships was also praised by the organisation.
“Any funding targeted towards investment in skills will be music to manufacturers’ ears. With engineering employers facing a real and acute skills shortage and already putting their hands in their pockets, the sector should immediately be deemed high priority for future investment,” commented the EEF’s Director of Employment and Skills, Tim Thomas.
“Government must, however, learn the lessons from the past and set out the key objectives for the fund as well as avoiding duplication, targeting it where there is a gap in training provision and making the process transparent and easy for businesses of all sizes to use.”
Stephen Cooper, Head of Industrial Manufacturing, KPMG UK, added that although the Chancellor’s championing of T-Levels is “great”, it is “time to turn words into action”, having seen little progress since discussions started in April.
A tax on plastics
As reported earlier this week, the Chancellor also confirmed the Government’s intention to investigate the possibility of implementing a levy on single-use plastics.
He said that the measures were being pursued in order to enable the UK to “become a world leader in tackling the scourge of plastic, littering our planet and oceans”.
He continued: “With My Right Honourable Friend the Environment Secretary I will investigate how the tax system and charges on single-use plastic items can reduce waste. Because we can’t keep our promise to the next generation to build an economy fit for the future. Unless we ensure our planet has a future.”
The British Plastics Federation issued a statement in response to the announcement urging the Government to look at options that address the “root cause of the problem” of marine litter, rather than “embracing seemingly quick-win, populist strategies.”
It said: “A tax that ultimately increases costs for the consumer does not provide a viable solution to today’s issues — the UK accounts for only 0.2 percent of marine litter and the plastic bag charge has not reduced general littering. Instead, the UK needs a strategy to increase on-the-go recycling, a system enabling clear national communications and the enforcement of fines to make it universally understood that littering is unacceptable and irresponsible.”
The BPF has said it looks forward to working with Government to develop “rounded solutions that will increase recycling, overall resource efficiency and reduce all litter.”