✍️ The Times comment piece on the 'mini budget'
Just a short notebook this week, I wrote a piece for The Times on my reaction to the budget which I have put the text of below.
Also see how The Times described my appointment in 2016 … it is worth waiting for ..
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TL:DR of The Times piece - Entrepreneurs had not been expecting much, but there was more than anticipated and on the whole it was pretty positive, even if details were a little light in parts …
One of the biggest regrets that chancellors have on leaving office is that at times they were not radical enough. The trouble is that the occupants of Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street are at the peak of their powers when they arrive but when they leave, and know how best to work the system and Whitehall, they have no power left.
Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss have only been in office for 16 days and seem to have acted on this paradox. They embarked on the most radical fiscal alteration in half a century, a £45 billion package of tax cuts, or the equivalent of £1.5 billion for every minute he was on his feet.
Entrepreneurs had not been expecting much from this growth statement. They believed that because of the macro environment the focus would be on the cost of living but there was more for them than they expected. Although some areas of detail are light, they can be expected to be fleshed out in November when there is likely to be a budget.
Kwarteng stated that there was “unbound entrepreneurial drive in the UK, but there are too many barriers to enterprise . . . we want this country to be an entrepreneurial, share-owning democracy”.
On these pages last month I stated that the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) level should be increased from £150,000 to £300,000. The chancellor announced an increase to £250,000.
Perhaps more importantly there were smaller tweaks, allowing those businesses that are slightly older and more established to access the scheme. For example, the time during which startups can access SEIS has been increased from two to three years so a young company that gains real traction is eligible.
In addition, there was an intriguing announcement of “long-term investment for technology and science competition”, which will be known in Whitehall jargon as Lifts. It is a £500 million package to support new funds designed by institutional investors and fund managers, the aim of which is to crowd billions of private investment into UK science and technology businesses. The details are sketchy but the aim is for the scheme to be live early next year.
London is the heartbeat of the UK entrepreneurial ecosystem. The most significant announcement for the rest of the country is the dropping of employers’ national insurance contributions on the first £50,000 of an employee’s salary in the new 40 enterprise investment zones.
Many businesses that have been born in the past decade have been purely online, known sometimes as direct to consumer, for example Huel and Gymshark. The latter is making its first move into bricks and mortar next month with a shop on Regent Street. This new tax relief could encourage entrepreneurs to take up presence in these zones.
Kwarteng said that the statement provided, “crucial steps on the road to making this a nation of entrepreneurs”. Any entrepreneur knows that the road of building a company is full of potholes, unforeseen dips and occasional U-turns. There is plenty more work for this new government to achieve, not least on boosting scale-ups, but this growth statement is a step in the right direction.
Original article here, it is worth clicking to see the very old photo they have used.
It was the picture they used from my appointment to No.10 in 2016, when The Times described me as having ‘jolly features and comfortable dimensions’ 😂 😂 … imagine your friends having that kind of ammunition for when down the pub, I am not sure I will ever forgive Robert Lea and Callum Jones :)
To read that piece click here.
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