Here are a selection of comments on the Chancellor’s Spring Budget:
Keith O’Connor, Founder and CEO of Fleetsolve said:
“It’s critical that the Chancellor implements a series of measures that will enable and support UK business throughout their energy transition on the journey to net-zero. We are pleased to see the Spring Budget announcement of energy efficiency funding for swimming pools. This will provide a much needed shot in the arm to those community facilities particularly threatened by high energy costs. CHP is a tried and tested technology that generates lower-cost electricity and heat simultaneously in one highly efficient process. As such it is ideal for energy intensive environments like swimming pools that require a lot of heat. We are poised to help local authorities and leisure providers take advantage of this funding as soon as it becomes available.
We also welcome confirmation that the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) scheme will be extended for a further two years, and opened to new applicants. This, combined with the extension of the 50% First Year Allowance will free up some budget to invest in energy efficiency measures such as CHP, increasing resilience and allowing firms to operate more sustainably.
As a proud Wirral business, we are also pleased to see the announcement of 12 Investment Zones, one of which will be in the Liverpool City Region. We know first-hand that our vibrant region has huge potential for further growth, and we welcome funding that will catalyse this.”
Chris Barlow, Partner at MHA, said that while manufacturers will be buoyed by new incentives to plan and invest, the Chancellor has missed some valuable opportunities to provide greater support to a sector under pressure:
“Challenges within manufacturing sector have been plentiful and the continued absence of an industrial strategy remains a significant misstep from the government. That said, the Chancellor has implemented a number of measures that should allow manufacturers to plan and invest. The full expensing of IT, plant and machinery from taxable profits will provide welcome relief alongside the £1 million annual investment allowance to help manufacturers plan with some level of confidence for the first time in a while.
“Measures to tackle the UK’s labour shortages and the so-called ‘returnerships’ with skills boot camps and sector-based work academies seem to be a call to over 50s who have left the workforce early. The manufacturing skills shortage has long been a hindrance, so while it will need more detail, this is a step in the right direction to help inject vital skills to the sector.
“I feel there has been a missed opportunity not to correct the previously announced measures to reduce R&D relief for SMEs. Whilst companies which invest most heavily in R&D expenditure will be eligible for further relief the majority of SME”s ill be disappointed that previously announced cuts will remain. Additionally, the 6% rise in corporation tax, whilst well trailed, is a missed opportunity to release the tax burden felt by manufacturers. More importantly, the failure to reduce the tax does nothing to make the UK more attractive compared to our European counterparts.”
Beatrice Barleon, Head of Policy & Public Affairs at EngineeringUK, commented:
“We welcome the Government’s ongoing commitment to make the UK a science and technology superpower and the ambitions of growing the economy, meeting our Net Zero targets, and unlocking the potential of every region. We also welcome the acknowledgement that to achieve this, businesses, including engineering and technology businesses, urgently need a larger skills and workforce base, now and in the future.”
“However, the measures on childcare as well as the focus on those over 50 will not, on their own, solve the wider skills and workforce shortages in the engineering and technology sector in the long-term. We urgently need greater investment in and focus on STEM education, STEM teachers, careers provision and vocational pathways for young people.”
“Our Fit for the Future Inquiry into engineering and technology apprenticeships will be reporting later this year and we hope to work closely with the Treasury to explore how they can support growth across the engineering profession.”
John Kitchingman, MD, Euronorth, Dassault Systemes, said:
“Following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget unveiling, we applaud the decision to invest £20 billion in carbon capture technology to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, the launch of Great British Nuclear, and the decision to label nuclear energy as “environmentally sustainable”. This investment will not only support the creation of a green economy but will also result in upwards of 50,000 highly-skilled new jobs in the energy industry directly and many more in the allied sector.
The recent announcement signifies the progress the UK is making to create a thriving green economy, yet for this to be a success, nuclear technologies must still remain at the forefront of policies, regulations, and investments in order for climate objectives to be met with a balanced energy mix helping to reduce emissions.
Investments in nuclear must go hand in hand with the digital transformation in energy. In other words, for nuclear projects to succeed on time and on budget in an era where energy security is paramount, digitalisation must play a central role. This should involve technology which provides the ability to model and visualise all potential outcomes while monitoring and controlling project execution throughout project phases efficiently.
While we are on the right path to clean energy, technology must be at the core of these solutions to create a tangible transition to a net zero economy. This requires both public and private investment to be made into nuclear energy.
Due to this, we support the UK’s decision to classify nuclear power as “environmentally sustainable” to continue propelling and advancing it as a viable net-zero energy source. While labelling nuclear energy as ” environmentally sustainable” is a substantial shift from the UK Government’s removal of nuclear power from the green investment framework in 2021, we believe this is a sensible decision based on the developments made since then and would enable further progress for a net-zero economy.”
