THE LAST WORD

Last month in ‘The Last Word’, I talked about the diversity of events to which the Chamber president is invited. That makes for an interesting year for the president, but more importantly it provides a great insight into the thoughts of our members – the changing narrative of what business and the community wants for the East Midlands.

By pretty much any yardstick, these have been tumultuous times. The Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, Brexit – these are not ‘usual’ events.

Indeed, my personal view is that, economically, we have been in ‘unusual’ times since the 2007/08 financial crisis, which forced most countries into applying unusual fiscal policies and most central banks into adopting novel policies, such as quantitative easing, which have still yet to unwind substantively.

But maybe that’s just the view of an ageing former banker? And there is the very valid challenge: if the ‘unusual’ lasts for long enough, does it simply become the new ‘usual’?

The Chamber is here to help our members and businesses navigate their way through change –whether that change is usual or unusual.

We are not soothsayers who can predict the future, but we seem to be pretty good at providing advice and guidance to help people steer their own course – be that though the pandemic, when the Chamber’s themed-events were a colossal success, through the impact of sustainability on business, through digital strategy, exporting and much else.

Getting The Basics Right

I also commented in my last piece on the role the Chamber plays as a voice for the East Midlands – a region lacking many such voices. This is particularly the case for the Chamber’s policy work, which culminated in the Business Manifesto for Growth in the East Midlands.

The message of that manifesto, launched towards the end of last year, chimed with what our members were quite loudly saying to politicians at the time: “get the basics right”.

I have chaired Chamber discussions for many years and, as might be expected, there are some themes that recur year-in, year-out, and there are others that come to the fore and then recede.

The theme of the UK’s place in Europe has always been an interesting one. In the run-up to the Brexit vote and for a number of years afterwards, one felt that in media and political discourse it was almost impossible to state an opinion without it being analysed for political intent. The discussion at Chamber meetings tended to reflect that Europe was rarely a leading topic of conversation.

To me, making it harder to trade with one’s closest neighbours – which make up one of the world’s largest trading blocs – was always bound to create problems for businesses (and many others) in the UK.

Thankfully, I sense both in general media and political discourse, and in conversations with Chamber members, there is now more willingness to acknowledge the reality of the current situation and to focus on ways to improve matters.

This is important stuff. The latest Chamber Quarterly Economic Survey asked those businesses in our region that export to Europe about the impact on that trade for them since the UK left the EU.

Almost half had seen this trade either decrease or cease, with around a third saying it had remained the same. The principal limiting factors varied, with customs processes, taxation and tariff effects top of the list.

The narrative does now seem to have changed to focus more on what is needed to get the basics right for the country’s new relationship with Europe. Long may that continue.

Supporting Our Communities As Responsible Businesses

Another topic that increasingly underpins the debate at Chamber events, and elsewhere too, is the impact of demographic change.

An ageing population clearly increases the costs of health and social care and, all other things being equal, leads to an increase in vulnerable aged people.

The impact of the pandemic on different generations seems to vary quite profoundly – be that the direct health impact of Covid-19, or the psychological impact of lockdown and the closure of (that word again) ‘normal’ social activity for a couple of years or more.

This backdrop, in my view, adds to the need for focus on the two priorities I have chosen for my year as president – a focus on using whatever wealth, power and influence we have to support better our local communities, and a focus on doing the best we can to support the next generation and generation next-but-one.

I was pleased recently to be at a roundtable discussing the findings of the sixth year of the Chamber’s survey of its members about corporate social responsibility (CSR) matters.

The results painted a mixed picture, with 40% of the businesses responding they simply do not engage with CSR issues. But I will choose to dwell on the positive, which is that virtually all responders to the survey were looking to maintain or increase their activity.

So, I will close this time with an optimistic slant. “Getting the basics” right – together with the ingenuity, hard work and dedication of our local businesses – can indeed lead to the East Midlands being a place of growth.

And if some of the proceeds of that growth can be used to improve my two priority areas –our local communities and our young people –then that would surely be a good thing. Is that too much to hope for a new ‘normal’? Stuart