Business faces world of uncertainty - something has to change

A lot can happen in a year, writes Henrietta Brealey.

Back in March 2024 Rishi Sunak was still Prime Minister, Joe Biden was president of the USA and locally, we were gearing up for local and regional elections in May.

At the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, we were preparing to launch The Business Commission West Midlands: A Roadmap for Business Growth with our partners at the Black Country and Coventry & Warwickshire Chambers of Commerce.

It was the culmination of months of insight gathering and analysis. Over 400 organisations contributed their views on both the existing strengths of the region as a place to do business and what needs to change - locally, regionally and nationally to best unlock growth.

Under the steer of our commissioners, brilliant private sector leaders in business from across industries, SMEs to multinationals, and chair Mark Taylor, we (led by our excellent director of external affairs Raj Kandola) turned that that insight into a set of recommendations and launched the final report at a West Midland mayoral debate.

The response was very promising, with both leading candidates outlining their support for key recommendations.

Since then, we’ve experienced seismic shifts in politics and power. A General Election in July - the Parliamentary launch for the report coincided with a new cohort of MPs being sworn in.

Domestically, we’ve seen both falling inflation and an impending rise in business costs from changes to Employers National Insurance Contributions and the National Living Wage.

As for internationally, well…a new Trump administration has sent unsettling ripples across the world, from trade wars to international security, redrawing geopolitical priorities and alliances.

So, in short, a lot has changed since March 2024. But the core messages of The Business Commission West Midlands: A Roadmap for Business Growth still ring true:

• The public funded business ecosystem is too fragmented, complex and ambiguous for businesses to effectively navigate.
• Businesses need to see a sense of urgency and ambition in the UK’s (national, regional and local) response to unlocking business growth.
• We need to create the conditions for businesses to upscale and grow at every stage of their journeys – too many cliff edges and bottlenecks remain.

The detailed recommendations of the report set out the steps to unlock this.

So, rather than letting the findings of the Business Commission West Midlands sit on the shelf gathering dust, we’re bringing it back into the limelight, one year on. On 26 March we’ll be hosting stakeholders for a session exploring the business growth agenda and the impact of the Commission in light of this new national and global context.

We’ve spent the year working behind the scenes to embed the recommendations in policy and decision making. What’s gained traction and is progressing nicely? What’s yet to get the attention it deserves?

There’s been momentum building around recommendations linked to regional spatial planning to help tackle the shortage of employment land across the region.

The Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill champions the need for strategic development strategies to be developed by Mayoral Authorities.

In addition, the publication of the Devolution White Paper in November 2024 underlined the importance of a new departmental-style budget arrangement for the WMCA with a single pot of funding to make more tailored interventions to unlock growth – a proposal which was backed by our Commissioners and supported by the wider business community.

Plus moves towards a new Business Growth Service to “make it easier and quicker for SMEs to find government advice and support” (although as always, the devil will be in the detail on that one).

However, it remains abundantly clear that we’re still quite a way off achieving the Labour Party’s first mission - to kickstart economic growth.

From April, most employers will be finding ways to absorb and adapt to yet another rise in costs, as a result of the aforementioned Autumn Budget measures. They will also be looking ahead to the Employment Rights Bill with a nervous eye on further cost implications.

With the right interventions, key moments such as the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review and launch of the West Midlands Local Growth Plan, both expected in June, could lay the groundwork for change. It will need bold decision making and meaningful partnership with business to make it happen.

Of course, being a Chamber of Commerce, our work isn’t limited to informing policy – we roll up our sleeves and get stuck in on supporting businesses too.

Next week, as well as exploring the impact of the Commission to date, we’ll be revealing our latest investment in this space, The Business Growth Studio – but more on that in next month’s column.

Henrietta Brealey is chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

This column first appeared in the Birmingham Post