With just over a year to go until the final deadline for the next general election, BETHANY WALES spoke to business leaders in the East about the issues that will be guiding their vote.
The countdown to the next general election has begun, with parliament set to automatically dissolve on December 17 2024 - a mere 12 months away.
That means that Rishi Sunak must call a general election to be held no later than January 28, 2025 - although most experts predict he will go to the polls sooner than that.
And following a year that has seen some of the harshest economic conditions since 2008, plus stagnant growth predicted next year, business owners are clear about what they need from the government.
MONEY IN CUSTOMERS’ POCKETS
For those working in the hospitality and service-based industries, policies which focus on increasing the disposable income of the ordinary consumer are a key focus.
The current UK parliament is on track to be the worst on record for household earnings growth, with disposable income per head projected to fall by 3.1pc between December 2019 and January 2025.
Daniel Pratt is the managing director of Snug Hospitality, which owns seven pubs in East Anglia including The Crown in Trunch and The White Swan in Gressenhall.
He said trade had been heavily impacted by the cost of living crisis.
He said: “The most important thing the government can do is to ensure that people have more money in their pockets to spend.
“Really getting a grip on increased costs across all areas from food to petrol and insurance is something that will help people feel like spending more on those extras.
“It should happen this way, rather than through the minimum wage increase, which passes on the problem to small businesses.
“But what have they done to ensure businesses like ours can afford it?
“It’s essentially an extra tax on us. It’s all good saying that they want to get people back to work but I am sure many hospitality businesses over the next year will be in a similar position to us whereby they won’t be growing their teams and in some cases will have to shrink them.”
Lauren Miller, the owner of Genesis Hair Salon in Cromer, agreed.
She said: “Anything that would help our customers would help us.
“Bringing interest rates down, for example, would help our clients afford to come in. We offer a luxury service so it’s one of the first things to go when people are squeezed.
“We’ve been in an impossible situation since hitting the VAT threshold, which I believe needs to be higher, especially for partnerships like we have at Genesis.
"The threshold is the same whether there's one or two of you, which basically means our allowance is half of what others get if they're a sole business owner.
"I think this needs to be addressed urgently.
“It’s been a very difficult balancing act.”
SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT
The number of small businesses has plummeted since 2020, with more than 400,000 forced to close in the space of three years.
Rob Davies, who owns the marketing agency One on One Communications, said he fears more will be lost if the next government doesn’t address the specific challenges faced by smaller companies.
He said: “The only way for smaller businesses to rent offices is for grant funding to be made available.
“Often businesses like mine are deemed too small for grant funding yet I rent an office in a building with six other office suites but there is no joined up thinking to address the building as a whole.
READ MORE: What does the autumn statement mean for you?
“I would also like to see the Corporation Tax rate for micro-businesses – say less than £200,000 turnover – be cut to something between 10-12pc.
“The fixed costs of running an office and a business are disproportionately high for a business employing less than five people but they are the acorns from which larger companies develop so more encouragement should be given to them to start up and carry on.”
NET ZERO
A divisive subject, policies relating to the UK’s net zero targets rank high on the priority lists of many business owners.
Alex Durand, the CEO of Saxonair in Norwich, said he will be listening closely to party leaders’ plans, and would like to see a reversal of the series of U-turns made by Rishi Sunak on critical targets to tackle climate change.
He said: “We need a long term vision and strategy with an urgent net zero delivery plan, that the regions and businesses can then help to implement.
“The approach to net zero needs to be aggressive and urgent.
“The next few years are critical, we can’t leave it until the 2040s.
“I want to see a return to ambitious targets, mandate milestone improvements, and hold industry sectors accountable for achieving them, but supported by comprehensive innovation funding.”
HOW IS THE ELECTION DATE DECIDED?
UK general elections must be held no longer than five years apart, meaning the next one must take place by January 28 2025.
There has been much speculation about when Mr Sunak will decide to go to the polls, with several complicating factors at play.
Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement tax cut fuelled theories that the party was gearing up for an election in the first half of the year.
However conventional wisdom suggests it would make more sense for him to hang on until the autumn, giving the economy more time to recover and inflation the chance to fall.
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