In a review of the Conservative government’s first Parliamentary session, the BCC said the new administration had taken some positive steps to support British business but there are “areas of serious concern that remain unaddressed”, including “ailing infrastructure” and the UK's global trade position.
The BCC has checked the government’s progress against its own Business Manifesto, published before the General Election, which set out seven core areas where it wanted to see government action to help both them and the economy grow.
The review found that the government had made “good progress” on developing the talents of the next generation, including a commitment to apprenticeships, and supporting long-term business investment and “variable progress” on driving down the costs of business and placing business at the heart of local growth.
It called for measures to minimise the impact of the new National Living Wage on smaller businesses and for them to be consulted on devolution issues and said there had “been more rhetoric than action” on the expected review of business rates and the government’s promise to cut red tape.
In addition the BCC has “serious concerns” about the government’s commitment to rebuilding business infrastructure and growing Britain’s trade potential, saying business had seen “precious little progress” toward meeting the target of securing exports worth £1tr by 2020 and that necessary decisions on air, rail, digital and energy infrastructure had been “sidestepped or delayed”.
BCC director general John Longworth said ministers should take “more tough and radical decisions”.
"There is no question that this government has a strong commitment to business growth. It has started to take a number of practical steps that businesses will welcome, such as stronger support for companies seeking to invest.
“However, to be remembered as the government that turbo-charged great growth it must do much more, particularly to boost exports, further improve access to finance and to ensure that the right infrastructure is in place.”
BPIF chief executive Charles Jarrold said the federation broadly agreed with the BCC's comments, although it needed to see more detail before coming to a firm view.
“As a sector we believe in the provision of high-quality apprenticeship training, as part of an overall strategy to provide longer term career development options in print - we simply do not know how the proposed Apprenticeship Levy will operate.
“Our hope is that it will act as an incentive to those companies that don't train to start doing so; our concern is that it becomes a bureaucratic hindrance,” he said.
“We are also pleased that productivity is back on the agenda - productivity is about infrastructure, as well as investment in equipment and people. The announcement on the Investment Allowance was good news, but as well as supporting investment in equipment, we'd like to see more support for companies willing to invest in developing the productivity skills of their staff.”
A spokesman for UKTI said that boosting the nation’s exports was “a major priority across all government departments” and the recently launched Exports Implementation Taskforce was working on this.
“Open and transparent markets are another key factor to increasing UK exports which is why we are working with our counterparts to remove state-imposed barriers to trade with our key economic partners,” he said.
