By Denis Sheehan MIH, Publisher, H&C News: Head of the CBI calls on Sunak to avoid austerity 2.0 and ease immigration.
Tony Danker, head of the Confederation of British Industry has cautioned our next PM Rishi Sunak against pursuing an austerity ‘doom loop’. Danker stressed that austerity 2.0 would be a replay of the UK’s feeble economic growth since the 2008 financial crisis.
Danker went on to add that Sunak would have to look at policies such as planning reform and easing immigration to achieve real growth irrespective of such choices being unpopular with the Conservative Party membership.
Danker was a champion of the current PM Liz Truss’s plans to boost the UK economy, however he now acknowledges fiscal stability needs to be the priority.
Earlier today he told the BBC’s Today programme that a growth strategy remains important, saying: “The 2010s began with some austerity and were then ensued with very low growth, zero productivity and low investment. It wasn’t a successful strategy for growth.
“We’re going to find out on Monday (31st Oct) that if all there is is tax rises and spending cuts and there’s nothing in there about growth the country could end up in a similar ‘doom loop’ where all you have to do is keep coming back every year to find more tax rises and more spending cuts because you’ve got no growth.”
Danker emphasised the government does have tools at their disposal to boost growth, specifically through easing planning permission, and immigration.
For the hospitality industry easing immigration would be an enormous boost to the desperate shortage of people and skills hindering not only growth but ‘normal’ operational output.
Hospitality also needs an extension to business rates relief, substantial reform of the business rates system, and a lower VAT rate.
