I started writing this week’s post on Monday. Then I thought, ‘Maybe best leave it to Tuesday.’ Then Tuesday came and… Here I am writing ridiculously early on Wednesday morning.
When you write something that’s published at a set time you’re always conscious of the gap between writing and reading. ‘Events,’ as Harold Macmillan famously described them, happen. There’s a niggling feeling at the back of your mind that what you’re writing could be irrelevant – or just plain wrong – by the time your audience reads it.
Never has this been more true than in the last two weeks. The last blog post was on September 23rd. As you were reading it, the new Chancellor was delivering his ‘fiscal event.’ The 45p rate of tax was abolished, the planned increase in Corporation Tax quickly followed, the national insurance hikes were reversed.
The right-wing think tanks loved it: Nigel Farage called it ‘the best Conservative Budget since 1986.’ Several papers and commentators took the opposite view. The word ‘gamble’ featured in a lot of the headlines, often accompanied by ‘reckless.’
You all know what happened. The pound came perilously close to parity with the dollar – although it is by no means the only currency to suffer against the Fed’s steadily rising interest rates. The Bank of England was forced to intervene amid liquidity fears from pension funds. The 45p rate of tax was re-instated – as the Chancellor said he’d listened. But he was definitely sticking to his guns about outlining his medium-term strategy on November 23rd. Then he decided to bring it forward…
Never mind. At least the rest of the world was a stable place. Vladimir Putin proclaimed Lyman to be ‘part of Russia forever.’ Ukraine recaptured it the next day. The Chinese economy continued to creak. At one point last month Xi Jinping was rumoured to be under house arrest as army general Li Qiaoming led a coup. The Nord Stream pipeline was attacked: Sweden has now declared the area a crime scene…
Now it’s Wednesday lunchtime: as I write Liz Truss has just delivered her speech to the Conservative Party Conference. Clearly paraphrasing Tony Blair she described her three priorities for government as ‘growth, growth and growth.’
We can all agree with that. And I’m fairly certain that the vast majority of people reading this blog would prefer to pay Corporation Tax at 19% rather than 25%. I’m one of them – and from my conversations with TAB members the money won’t be taken out as dividends, it’ll be re-invested in the business. More growth and more jobs…
But to pay Corporation Tax we need to make a profit. To make a profit we need to continue building our businesses, facing new competition – and dealing with the challenges economics and politics present on what seems like a daily basis.
You want examples of the challenges? Last month manufacturing output was reported to be ‘sinking at its fastest rate since the start of the pandemic.’ Today 17,000 construction firms are reportedly at risk.
In the years I’ve been writing this blog I have – off the top of my head – quoted Shakespeare, Kipling, Bobby Kennedy and Neil Gaiman.
To the best of my knowledge I haven’t yet quoted from the Bible, but right now Matthew 7: 24-26 is wholly appropriate.
Jesus said everyone who hears his words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on rock. Everyone who heard his words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand.
Clearly, I’m not making a religious point. But goodness me (I could put it slightly more strongly) right now we are being asked to build our businesses on sand. Rapidly shifting sand. It’s one thing for Government policy to change with a General Election: it’s quite another for a policy – ‘We make no apology,’ said an unrepentant Chancellor – to be reversed over a weekend.
Let’s be blunt. If the Government want growth, growth, growth those of us running businesses need certainty, certainty, certainty.
Owners and directors of SMEs want a rock to build their businesses on.
Fortunately, there is one. The Alternative Board offers you that certainty. The certainty of knowledge, constructive criticism and shared experience. We cannot do anything about the Chancellor’s eagerness to change his mind: we cannot do anything about global politics and economics.
But we can guarantee that you will never face challenges alone. That as the world changes, the support of your friends and fellow Board members in TAB UK will not change.
If you want a rock – a solid foundation for your business – it’s right there. And it will always be there.
