“Encouraging Start For Coalition”, Says Chamber

The Coalition Government's first 90 days in power have seen a number of positive business policies introduced, but more can still be done to help encourage exporters, manufacturing and enterprise, says the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to May's election, the Chamber identified 14 key policy areas which it believed needed to be addressed with urgency by the new government in order to drive private sector growth and help secure the economic recovery.

Now, following the coalition's first 90 days in power, the Chamber has assessed the government's progress against the 14 measures identified in its Regional Plan For Business Growth to see which issues have been actioned and which areas require urgent attention before the end of the year.

Areas where government has taken swift, positive and decisive action include:

The publishing of a credible plan to reduce the budget deficit and restore confidence
A freeze of the public sector wage bill and the reform of public pensions
A systematic review of existing regulation affecting employers

However, areas that the Chamber would like to see addressing with urgency include:

Giving firm commitments to start planned work to widen the A453 and bring a High Speed Rail hub to the East Midlands
Future promotion of economic development and growth following the decision to abolish emda
Strengthening support for businesses trading internationally

Richard Wilkins, President of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber, said: "This review shows positive progress against nine of the 14 policy areas that the Chamber identified prior to the election, which is an encouraging start, but more can still be done to put business at the heart of the economic recovery.

"Early action on deficit reduction and burdensome employment regulation has been strongly welcomed by local businesses and on the whole, the Chancellor's Emergency Budget struck the right balance.

"However, there are still a number of policy areas that need to be addressed as soon as possible, including supporting firms who export and committing to vital infrastructure improvements such as the widening of the A453 and the creation of a High Speed Rail hub in the East Midlands.

"And given that the decision has already been taken to abolish the regional development agencies, including emda, it must now ensure that their replacements, the much-vaunted Local Enterprise Partnerships, are fully supported by government so that these new bodies can continue to drive local economic growth, access funding and influence key business policy decisions."

Click here to see the Chamber's progress report and click here to read the background notes explaining each individual policy area.

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