Following the Autumn Statement analysts and business experts have dissected it in every way possible. Depending on where you find yourself, it could be very good.
If you are one of the two million people on the minimum wage, you are nearly £2k better off from April next year, plus companies who spend capital on equipment can offset 25% against tax – again good news – and add to that no hike in alcohol duty.
The burden of the rise on the minimum wage, unfortunately, sits mostly on small businesses.
The government takes the plaudits at no cost to them, but there is no doubt it will also lead to higher prices for the consumer.
The is much debate as to whether people are better or worse off after the statement – the OBR has predicted over the next two years our living standards will be on a par with 1948, a frightening thought.
There is no hiding the fact that the Chancellor had one eye on next year’s election as there was a heavy political bias entwined in his statement, but to be fair most parties follow this trait.
When Jeremy Hunt sat down at the end of his statement he was beaming from ear to ear, I wonder if he was still smiling if he watched Bloomberg TV the following morning when they announced that the UK government’s borrowing for the year till the end of October was £93bn.
It is fair to say it will be more than £100bn by year end and to make it worse this means the total UK debt will now stand at £2.3 trillion.
These figures are staggering. If the UK Government was a standalone business, the CEO and CFO, or in this case the PM and Chancellor, would be called into the bank on Monday.
The reason I highlight this is simple – it absolutely cannot continue. If we do not reverse the trend of running a deficit our public services will suffer death by a thousand cuts.
There is only one way to solve the deficit problem and that is by growing the economy. We must do everything we can to encourage entrepreneurship.
We must help established businesses to scale up, ramp up our approach to attracting inward investment and create tax advantageous Green Zones.
Scotland is small enough to make dramatic changes, so let’s start by making sure all our agencies that exist to drive enterprise are absolutely working together and that they are on the same page. Only by complete collaboration can we deliver this.
We need Scottish Enterprise, Scottish National Investment Bank, Scottish financial Services, Skills Development Scotland and, last but no means least, the principals of all our universities.
Let’s get all these people together once a quarter in a room, like Ireland. The ideas that will flow from this could help Scotland create a surplus rather than a deficit.
The number one priority of the Scottish Government should be to create jobs and wealth. I was astounded to read last week that Holyrood had underspent £94m earmarked for apprenticeships.
If this is true it is totally unacceptable. This could have provided a subsidy for 4,500 meaningful well-paid jobs for young people.
The apprenticeship levy is one of the worst policies ever introduced by the Tory Government in their 14-year reign. It was ridiculed by employers, trade bodies and unions alike. It is time to scrap it.
Why don’t we allow companies to offset the cost of apprenticeships against tax – think of the taxable income all these meaningful well-paid jobs would deliver to the Treasury.
We hear every day that we have a crisis in the housing sector, a large part of the problem is in the shortage of labour, there has been a lack of investment in apprenticeships over the last 20 years. Let us start there – how can we help builders fund training of apprentices?
Staying on the theme of meaningful jobs, here is an idea – if we are really serious about creating sustainable buildings, why don’t we make it law that every building over 100,000 square foot must have a Energy Champion? This is an equal opportunity initiative that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs overnight for young men and women.
I guarantee you this position would pay for itself in energy savings in no time. You could then send your young Energy Champion to college on a facilities management course, creating another well paid meaningful job that will more than pay for itself.
In order to stop the bleeding of £100bn a year in debt, we have to be bold, we have to really think outside of the box. Let’s encourage and help entrepreneurs create the size of economy that we need to get us out of the red.
If we do not, we will be destroying our public services in the decades to come.
Lord Willie Haughey: Scotland's spiralling debt and lack of growth is truly alarming
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1
07.12.2023
Following the Autumn Statement analysts and business experts have dissected it in every way possible. Depending on where you find yourself, it could be very good.
If you are one of the two million people on the minimum wage, you are nearly £2k better off from April next year, plus companies who spend capital on equipment can offset 25% against tax – again good news – and add to that no hike in alcohol duty.
The burden of the rise on the minimum wage, unfortunately, sits mostly on small businesses.
The government takes the plaudits at no cost to them, but there is no doubt it will also lead to higher prices for the consumer.
The is much debate as to whether people are better or worse off after the statement – the OBR has predicted over the next two years our living standards will be on a par with 1948, a frightening thought.
There is no hiding the fact that the Chancellor had one eye on next year’s election as there was a heavy political bias entwined in his statement, but to be fair most parties follow this trait.
When Jeremy Hunt sat down at the end of his statement he was beaming from ear to ear, I wonder if........
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