Blog by Simon Eardley – Head of Policy & Partnerships, Mersey Maritime
The first Budget of the new Labour government has been heavily trailed, in part at least, in the media in recent weeks. With talk of financial black holes, potential increases in taxation, higher public spending, tough choices and ‘fixing the foundations, rebuilding Britain and delivering change’ – the rhetoric is quite robust. In days past, ‘leaks’ or clear allusions to what might follow from the Budget was a ministerial resignation matter, but these days the economy prefers not to receive too many ‘shocks’ which have arguably been a feature of some statements in recent years. One of global proportions might be on the horizon with the outcome of the US Presidential General Election in early November in any case. The domestic question on everyone’s lips is, will the Budget match the reality in terms of content from the first Budget speech in history delivered by a female Chancellor of the Exchequer? We don’t have long to wait!
We are only a few months into the new Parliament, and it would be unreasonable to expect detailed policy and ‘change’ across every aspect of every industry in the country. The Department for Transport focus thus far has been largely on modes of transport other than maritime, with announcements on railways in particular, albeit that the wider logistics focus does have an impact on what arrives in the country by sea – where and how it gets to its final destination is always a consideration as many Mersey Maritime businesses will understand.
Maritime is fundamental to the UK’s economy and overall prosperity and that is none more so than here in the Liverpool City Region where it is a foundation industry for so much else in the wider economy. Supporting the sector’s competitiveness will be key to solving many of our wider challenges, from the energy transition to the fundamental technological advancements we are seeing in AI and other sectors. The industry doesn’t need to depend on government intervention, but sometimes it does need the hand of assistance to work in a collaborative manner.
A few topical questions come to mind:
- Will we see a continuation of the UK SHORE decarbonisation funding support? £206 million under the last government was significant investment but when compared to that being expended in other countries around the world, where some states alone in America are investing more in the future of their maritime industry than the entire decarbonisation budget to date!
- What real and tangible support will be offered around skills? Too often there’s much talk of ‘addressing skills gaps’ but these can be poorly defined and the pace of addressing them doesn’t usually match the pace that industry requires. In the nuclear sector, for example, it has been suggested that tens of thousands of highly trained individuals will need to be developed in that industry every year for the foreseeable future. Perhaps announcements around the new Industrial Strategy will show government getting serious about such issues. A renewed emphasis on devolution could see the task of addressing these challenges more closely linked to individual regions and their sector specific specialisms – a tantalising prospect given the success that devolved government has been in many of the country’s most significant economic areas, including our own in Liverpool.
- Will we see an expansion and further development of the ‘Freeport’ agenda of the previous administration? It had been suggested that an announcement was likely that additional freeport status would be granted to new areas but this has since been rowed back on. Perhaps the most we can expect to see is detailed plans and funding for existing designated sites to become fully operational.
- Although the phrase ‘levelling up’ appears to have dropped out of the political lexicon, maybe we’ll see announcements relating to innovation funding and an equalisation across the country of where these resources are focused. The scope to deliver this change – hardly radical in concept – is considerable, with regional disparities in funding allocations being stark when it comes to R&D spending with areas like the ‘Greater South East’ accounting for 36% of the UK population but receiving 55% of funding support. Maybe the time is now for this sort of skewed ratio to be fundamentally shifted, not least given there’s no exclusivity to expertise and research specialisms in just one region of the country.
The scope is broad for the Chancellor to make an impact on our industry in its widest sense. There will no doubt be ‘winners and losers’, there always is when budgets remain tight and there’s economic uncertainty around. We await with interest to see what transpires.
Mersey Maritime’s policy focus is well known and speaks to many of the priorities or ‘missions’ that the new Government have been setting out, in particular seeking to ‘kickstart economic growth’ and ‘make Britain a clean energy superpower.’ Boosting UK trade, decarbonisation, digitisation, DE&I and skills sit at the heart of the future of Mersey Maritime and the industry in this region and are subjects we have raised in the past at ministerial level and will continue to do so. Indeed, our engagement with the Maritime Minister will continue next week when we have a ‘one-to-one’ session with him in London. As ever, championing our industry in the Liverpool City Region and wider North West will be our razor like focus as we seek to work collaboratively with him and the DfT maritime team in the months and years ahead.
Check back here in the coming days to find out our reaction to the announcements in the ‘Budget book’ and what insights we have gleaned from the Government which will have an impact on our industry. Do get in touch if there are particular angles on the statement and its implications for your business that you would wish us to explore.
