Commenting on the Chancellor’s Summer Statement, delivered today, Doncaster Chamber Chief Executive Officer Dan Fell said:
“The Chancellor’s Summer Statement will have been well received by many in Doncaster’s business community. Key interventions such as: the new Jobs Retention Bonus, the Kickstart Scheme to support young people and incentives to make housing and publicly owned buildings greener will, undoubtedly, benefit Doncaster’s economy. Critically, the leisure and hospitality sector has been well supported with the significant reduction in VAT for these sectors being a particular welcome fillip.
“The scheme to encourage people to eat out should be applauded for its innovation. However, only time will tell when it comes to determining just how helpful this will be to venues, restaurants – and the companies that supply them – that urgently need to repair battered revenue lines.
“The focus on the hospitality sector will, inevitably, highlight the lack of specific interventions designed to support businesses in other sectors that, through no fault of their own, have been rendered inoperable or unprofitable as a result of Covid-19.
“A lack of further detail on support for the arts, aviation and manufacturing sectors – to name just a few industries that are of particular importance to Doncaster – will cause significant consternation and leave the nagging doubt that, despite the eye-watering sums of money involved, that today’s announcements simply do not go far enough.
“Similarly, businesses will soon grow tired of the oft stated intention to ‘level up’ the UK if there are no imminent announcements about infrastructure projects that benefit Doncaster. The Government has talked loftily about spades in the ground and cranes in the sky; we now urgently need to see this becoming a reality in South Yorkshire.
“Finally, the economic crisis that the UK is experiencing is ultimately a consequence of the global health pandemic that has brought the world to a standstill. There will, therefore be many, that feel that there was a missed opportunity today to invest further in the health interventions needed to get society, and therefore the economy, back to normal. Until the health crisis is resolved, our economy – regrettably – will, at best, be stuck in third gear.”
