No surprises, no shocks, “damp squib”. Normally that wouldn’t be a great film review. But this cinema was showing the Budget, so people were oddly happy with that outcome.
I went along to Liverpool Chamber of Commerce’s Budget screening in the cinema upstairs at the city’s luxurious Hope Street Hotel. Outside despite the cold, we could see guests relaxing in the outdoor jacuzzi. But inside, business and cultural leaders from across the city region were gathering to hear what Rachel Reeves had to say.
We heard some of it early, of course, thanks to the accidental early release of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s Budget forecasts. But the 30 or so guests still listened intently as Rachel Reeves delivered a speech outlining the Government’s plans for tax rises, business rates, electric vehicle taxes, and everything inbetween.
The verdict from Liverpool? “Could be worse”.
It was a fairly quiet screening as the audience scribbled their notes. I caught a couple of tiny whoops and one half-hearted “yay” from the audience – quite a contrast to the noisy braying in the Commons as the Chancellor spoke.
One weak whoop came when the Chancellor said: “I am extending the business rates retention pilots in the West of England, Liverpool City Region and Cornwall until 2029”.
Another came when she confirmed that training for under-25 apprenticeships will be “completely free for small and medium-sized enterprises”.
The “yay” came when the Chancellor confirmed no change to NI or basic income tax rates.
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Afterwards I helped to host a short Q&A afterwards alongside Chamber CEO Paul Cherpeau, hearing from leaders in sectors from wealth management and finance through to engineering and the arts.
Some of the phrases people used to describe the speech included “damp squib”, “lack of ambition” and “ship-steadying”.
But that, attendees generally observed, was no bad thing. Businesses will not this year have to handle major changes, such as the rise in National Insurance Contributions they saw last year. That gives them some short-term stability and breathing room.
Some even suggested that they and their clients might now be encouraged to move ahead with investment decisions they had paused amid uncertainty over what the Budget might bring.
Sean Keyes, CEO at civil engineering firm Sutcliffe, said he was “quite pleased” the Budget was relatively unexciting. But he said many key issues were ignored in the speech – such as how the Government intends to hit its ambitious 15.m housebuilding target.
Alison Lobb, managing partners of law firm Morecrofts and chair of the Chamber, said she had been waiting for the “big news that never came”. She said another subject that was not covered in the Chancellor's speech was funding for the justice system, given the backlog and pressures it’s facing.
I carried out a brief (and unscientific) show of hands after our Q&A. Just one person said they felt worse after the Chancellor’s speech than they did before it – with slightly more people saying they felt “neutral” about the Budget than felt “positive” about it.
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“Neutral positive”, we decided, was the overall verdict. But then, as everyone says after a Budget, “the devil is in the detail” – now it’s time for business leaders to read the fine print of the Chancellor’s keynote statement.
And what was clear was that while the Budget statement underwhelmed, the Government still needs to share a positive vision about exactly where Britain’s economic growth will come from.