Speaking ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, the boss of one of the UK top manufacturing exporters has called on Phillip Hammond to take action rather than adopt a wait and see policy on Brexit.
Steve Elliott, Chief Executive of the Chemical Industries Association said “I want the Chancellor to use this opportunity to further strengthen the backbone of UK industry rather than as some say ‘tidy up previous announcements’ while we wait for the uncertainty of Brexit to clear”.
He continued “The chemical and pharmaceutical businesses we represent understand the complexity of the Brexit process and of course want to see the best possible outcome. Independent of that process, however, we believe there are immediate actions that need to be taken by the Chancellor – most notably to address uncompetitive energy costs through the abolition of the carbon floor price and the reform of investment and taxation covering R&D tax credits and the Patent Box scheme to encourage innovation. These measures would help kick-start the government’s very welcome commitment to a new industrial strategy”.
Elliott continued “With next week’s budget in mind, we have made seven proposals that we think will help boost all of the economy and in turn deliver taxation receipts for the Chancellor to invest in public services. As we begin to tackle the detail of Brexit and its unknown outcomes, now is the time to provide a confidence boost to manufacturing and its related workforce throughout the UK”.
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For further information and a full copy of the Chemical Industries Association Budget Submission please contact Simon Marsh 07951 389197 or [email protected].
The chemical and pharmaceutical industry adds £14 billion of value to the UK economy every year from total annual turnover of around £40 billion.
The UK is a leading global chemical and pharmaceutical producer.
The sector is the UK’s second largest manufacturing exporter.
Over £4 billion of capital and R&D investment is made by UK chemical and pharmaceutical companies.
The sector employs around 140,000 people directly and supports in total around half a million jobs.