Action plan to rebuild is put forward at British Chambers’ conference

An action plan to help firms and communities rebuild put forward by the British Chambers of Commerce new director general was at the centre of its Global Annual Conference.

Taking place over June 16-17, the BCC’s first ever interactive conference saw Shevaun Haviland give her first speech at the event while both days featured an impressive roster of nearly 50 key business personnel and senior political figures taking part in Leader to Leader ‘In Conversation’ sessions, panels, interactive workshops and essential keynotes.

‘Return to prosperity and growth’ was the tagline of the conference’, which focused on exploring how we can restore confidence and build a more resilient sustainable future that supports businesses to recover, grow, invest and thrive. The online portal was a constructive way to engage between thousands of business and economic figures.

Speaker highlights from the two day programme included:

  • The Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, President for COP 26
  • Ben Francis, Founder of Gymshark
  • The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, Shadow Business and Energy Secretary
  • HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO, Chair of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award
  • The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
  • Lisa Witter, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Apolitical
  • The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party

The new Director General Shevaun Haviland said during the conference that key steps were needed to boost UK trade, unlock the blockages in the skills training system and build a greener and more sustainable economy that achieves the aim of net zero by 2050.

Putting trade and export at the heart of her future vision for the country, she said: “Imagine what a difference it would make to our economy if we could increase the number of businesses that export from 10 to 20 per cent? We know from our survey data that internationally active firms are more likely to be innovating and introducing new products, services, and processes than those not working globally.

“If we are going to truly succeed in our new trading conditions, the government and business must work together shoulder to shoulder. The Government must bring together all organisations working in this area, both public and private sector, behind a shared UK trade and investment strategy.”

Following last Monday’s news of the delay on full reopening for England, Haviland also warned against government removing support for businesses too early and of the risks of an uneven recovery.

“Despite the challenges firms have faced – the rising burden of debt and depleted cashflow – there are signs that firms are beginning to feel more positive about the future,” she said.

“While it may be slow, they can see a route back to full operation, where they can start to invest and power the economic recovery.

“That’s why today I am setting out the BCC’s recommendations to rapidly Rebuild the economy, to not just take this country back to where we started, but to go beyond that to a better, greener, more productive future.

“We know the financial support put in place during the darkest hours of the pandemic cannot, and should not, last forever. But we must ensure this scaffolding is not taken away too early.

“With many firms struggling with the damage done to their cashflow and revenue by Covid, the risk of a marked rise in insolvencies and redundancies as government support winds down remains high.

“And the recovery will be dramatically uneven across different sectors, locations and demographics. So just as the Government supported firms to survive through the crisis, they must also act now to enable them to thrive in the recovery.”

Haviland also paid tribute to the role that accredited Chambers of Commerce, 53 across the UK and 73 internationally, have made to keeping businesses afloat throughout the pandemic.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told leaders he was “very sorry” for the one month delay to ‘Freedom Day’ but said chief executives had cause for optimism as the UK headed down a path of reopening.

“I think there are three reasons why I think 2021 is a year of optimism, a year of hope,” Kwarteng said in his keynote address. He listed progress on vaccines, the resolutions to Brexit, and the government’s green agenda as reasons and said the economy had the opportunity to forge new ground as it bounced back from Covid-19.

“We should lift our eyes to what lies ahead, we can’t simply try and recapture what went before the pandemic,” the business secretary said. “We’ve got to try and use this opportunity to reset our economy and have even greater ambitions than we’ve had in the past.”

The comments came as BCC president Ruby McGregor-Smith reiterated the call for more support from government to help businesses through the extension of Covid restrictions another month to late July.

Kwarteng asked for businesses to be “patient” and added: “I’m very confident on the 19th of July we’ll be able to open up. The prime minister has said very clearly we have to learn to live with COVID and that phrase suggests, I think, suggests we’re going to have to live with it and get on with our normal lives.”

Ed Miliband in conversation with Shevaun Haviland

Elsewhere Sir Keir Starmer made headlines for using his speech as a platform to criticise the way the Conservatives want to move forward with UK’s economic recovery, accusing the party of “dragging its feet” to support businesses.

In a pre-recorded speech, he said he was “committed to making this the most pro-business Labour party ever” and called for “a new partnership between an active state and enterprising business”.

He said the pandemic showed the best of Britain but also highlighted its fragilities, and Labour now wants to work with businesses to “deliver the fundamental change we need.”

Sir Keir also used the speech as part of his call for a £30bn ($42bn) green stimulus, investment tin skills and more support for business start-ups.

Meanwhile shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said that with the government pushing back the lifting of lockdown by at least four weeks, it must also extend its support including that around furlough and business rates.

“If you’re a nightclub business or in the hospitality sector and can’t make any profit, and you are being asked to contribute money to furlough when you can’t even open how is that fair?” he asked in a talk with Shevaun Haviland, BCC’s director-general.

However, he praised chancellor Rishi Sunak for “showing imagination” with government economic support, especially when it came to furlough.

Going forward, he sees huge opportunities for manufacturing in the UK particularly when it comes to electric vehicles, and believes more work needs to be done to bridge regional inequalities.

“Devolution needs to be comprehensive not piecemeal…. we need to devolve decisions about resources to local authorities,” he said, adding: “I’m not a fan of centralised pots of moneys. I don’t think that responds to what local business leaders are saying on the ground.”

As for lessons learnt from the pandemic, he said both private and public organisations must do more to support parents and make child care systems “fit for purpose.”

2021 and beyond

Alongside Haviland’s speech, the BCC has also published its Rebuild report – which sets out the detail of what the organisation believes is needed for UK businesses and communities to prosper in 2021 and beyond.

The recommendations within the report have been developed by the Chamber Network, based on our extensive research programme and direct insight into the impact of the Coronavirus crisis on businesses up and down the country. Take a look at the full document here.

The videos from both days including the opening videos and interval videos are available to re-watch and share on the Global Annual Conference page of the Chamber Knowledge Hub. These were also shared on BCC Twitter and LinkedIn. If you want to catch up on all the posts just use #BCCconf.

Further post-event details including BCC’s highlights from the two days, recordings from key sessions and a short feedback survey have been sent out to all attendees. In the meantime, please note that all registered attendees can watch back the sessions in the online platform for 7 days.

© Cumbria Chamber of Commerce