North West business leaders have had their say after Liz Truss was confirmed as Boris Johnson's successor as Prime Minister.
The Foreign Secretary defeated former Chancellor Rishi Sunak after she secured 57.4% of the vote in the Conservative Party's leadership election.
The in-coming PM, who will be formally appointed by The Queen on Tuesday, September 6, faces a massive cost of living crisis, with companies across the country fearing that soaring energy bills will force them out of business.
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Below, business leaders from across the North West share their views what they would like to see the new Prime Minister do in her first few weeks in office.
Bruntwood
Director of strategy Jessica Bowles said: "Liz Truss’s faces a daunting list of economic crises to tackle. Understandably, this was the focus of much of the debate during the leadership race. But too little was said about the UK’s long-term productivity problem.
"This urgently needs a new plan, and at its heart should be knowledge intensive sectors such as life sciences and tech and the role of places in supporting their growth. These are industries where the UK has impressive existing strengths to build on that are also thriving in the cities of the North, Midlands and Scotland.
"Critical to unlocking their potential is fast, reliable, modern transport: from cities to cities, and cities to surrounding towns - backed by investment into promising firms and ideas, and a plan to upskill our communities.
"On top of these, we need to continue to devolve power away from the centre. This is not just giving more levers to our metro mayors, but bringing government closer to our regions. Even after a successive focus on regional rebalancing over the past 12 years - first by supporting initiatives like the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine and more latterly through Levelling Up - the number of civil service jobs has grown in London but declined elsewhere."
JLL
Head of the North West Steve Hogg said: "Businesses in the North West will be hoping Liz Truss’ confirmation as Prime Minister signals a return to the priorities set out by this Government in 2019.
"Firms in the region need to see a strong commitment to investing in the region’s public transport system – especially at a time when connections to the capital are under strain – healthcare and its fast-growing digital and tech sectors, but they’ll also be hoping Andy Burnham is given more power to deliver on his manifesto pledges.
"Only by recommitting to engaging with and listening to business and civic leaders across the North West, will we see true progress on the levelling up agenda."
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Policy and campaigns director Chris Fletcher said: "It is highly unlikely that any new incoming PM has faced such a bigger challenge on day one than the current cost of living/cost of doing business crisis. It is vital that, after weeks of dither and inactivity, Ms Truss takes immediate decisive action to help people and businesses right across the country.
"There are a variety of options available from VAT cuts on energy, specialist price tariffs, grants or more drastic intervention along the scale and lines we saw during the pandemic. The seriousness of the situation cannot be underestimated and nothing should be ruled out at this stage.
"It’s important though that the new government doesn’t just focus all its attention on this one issue as important as it is. Everywhere you look and every business we talk to it feels like there is something that needs 'fixing'. The impact of Brexit still resonates with many, staff recruitment is proving evermore difficult and large parts of the transport network - especially on the West Coast mainline and trans pennine rail routes - is an utter shambles with underinvestment and a litany of broken promises.
"There are no silver bullet solutions, but there will have to be a much more realistic approach taken than some of the promises we have heard throughout the hustings period. Simple tax cuts and soundbites about future economic growth won’t pay the energy bills people will be getting over the next few weeks.
"Any new premiership starts with hope but people’s patience is wearing very thin and any honeymoon period will be short lived if changes aren’t felt quickly."
Brabners
Chief executive Robert White said: Liz Truss campaigned on a promise to navigate Britain through the cost-of-living crisis. Now the campaigning is over, we urgently need to see a detailed plan, including clarity on fiscal support for businesses.
"Business leaders will judge the incoming PM on actions over words, and the same sentiment applies to her encouraging views on the delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail in full. The new administration faces unprecedented challenges, however, prioritising growth and living standards in the regions must be a top priority if it is to deliver on previous manifesto commitments to level up."
HURST
Tax partner Adrian Young said: "The new prime minister is going to find delivering on her tax promises much harder than grandstanding to the Tory faithful.
"Liz Truss’s victory did have an air of inevitability about it, given the lavish tax hand-outs she promised during the leadership campaign, especially knowing the Conservatives’ historic distaste for high taxes. And this was reflected in the margin of her win.
"The reality is that her rival, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, almost guaranteed his own defeat by sticking to his unpopular tax-raising policies, even in light of the cost of living crisis.
"That cleared Truss’s path to the premiership, and she took full advantage by promising a sweeping range of uncosted tax pledges. Truss’s victory is now going to throw the spotlight on those pledges."
Inquesta
Insolvency practitioner and senior manager Steven Mason said: "We are witnessing a ‘perfect storm’, with the cost of living crisis, energy price hikes, a government in hiatus, spiralling inflation, the rising cost of raw materials, supply chain difficulties and Bounce Back Loans needing to be repaid, at the same time as consumers and householders rein in their spending amid the overall uncertainty.
"While the focus during the Conservative Party leadership campaign was largely on support for households, there needs to be urgent action by Liz Truss and her new government to support SMEs. It’s absolutely necessary to keep businesses afloat.
"We’re seeing record numbers of inquiries from worried business owners who, perhaps having pushed off dealing with issues over the summer in the hope that things would transpire to not be as bad as feared, are now having to face up to the unpleasant reality engulfing them."
NP11, a group of Northern Local Enterprise partnerships
Chairman Sir Roger Marsh said: "Too often the North is presented as a problem child, when in fact it holds the solution to addressing many of the challenges – and indeed the opportunities –the UK faces.
"“Prime Minister Truss has a full in-tray of issues needing urgent attention, which is why we have written to her to set out practical ways in which the North can help tackle national concerns such as energy cost rises and the imperative to develop secure, green domestic energy supplies in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, while also unlocking new sources of economic growth that will improve opportunity and living standards for people and help build a competitive, Global Britain.
"With the right, targeted investment and by working collaboratively with northern elected and business leaders, we can unlock this huge potential, not just for the benefit of the North but for the whole country. Our offers and asks are well-developed and based on solid evidence about what the North really needs to prosper, so we can help the Government bring forward plans at pace that will realise the promise of levelling up set out in its 2019 election manifesto."
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