Greater Brighton Economic Board in cost of living crisis study

The Greater Brighton Economic Board has asked the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to “conduct a research study into the impact of the economic turbulence in Greater Brighton”.

A report to the boards said: “The research will primarily focus on the impacts on businesses associated with rising costs, increasing interest rates and ongoing uncertainty.

“These impacts will be documented in a forthcoming report which will also contain some key recommendations.”

The report that was considered at a board meeting in Shoreham said: “The current cost-of-living crisis is the most severe witnessed in the UK in the last 40 years.

“The government have introduced a range of measures to try to help households and businesses.

“But with much of the inflationary pressures fuelled by the conflict in Ukraine, which does not seem like being resolved any time soon, there does not seem to be a clear break point.

“There is also concern that government support for businesses, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in particular, does not address all of the challenges businesses will face over the coming months.

“While there is some national data to draw upon, there is a need for a study at a Greater Brighton level to draw out the main impacts on the city region and make some recommendations around the kind of interventions the board could make.

“The government has introduced a number of measures and actions to support households and businesses against the cost-of-living crises.

“Greater Brighton partners have been lobbying central government for additional business support, particularly for small businesses, including energy rate relief, business rate relief and VAT reductions.

“Any direct financial outcomes from the Greater Brighton Study to be undertaken by the Institute of Employment Studies will be reported back to this board as a matter of priority.”

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Dean Orgill, vice chair of Sussex Chamber of Commerce, told the board today: “We’ve had the pandemic, the one that’s never mentioned, Brexit, and what that has done both to the labour force and the supply chain.

“We have to do some lobbying – and it needs to be brought higher up because it’s swept under the carpet and never mentioned as a factor.”

Both events had made it harder to recruit and retain staff and run a business, he added.

Mr Orgill, chief executive of Mayo Wynne Baxter, the Brighton firm of solicitors, said that few businesses in the region were working the way that they did two and a half years ago.

Trevor Beattie, chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority, said that rural businesses needed help, certainty and clarity.

Mr Beattie said: “Rural pubs and hospitality are in a real fix now. The removal of the pledge not to raise alcohol duties is causing real problems and we may see some rural hospitality businesses choosing to hibernate in the winter. That will have a real knock-on effect.

“For tourism businesses, the removal of the promise to provide tax-free shopping has caused a massive problem. Many have been preparing for that.

“The new system of environmental management, the support for farmers, has been … I don’t know what’s happened … It’s been called into question. This has left farmers high and dry.”

The agricultural support system was intended to encourage farmers to develop their businesses while making environmental improvements.

Mr Orgill said that the region had a large rural economy – and Brighton and Hove City Council owned farms around the area.

The country is currently in the grip of a cost of living crisis

He said that inflation was hitting many businesses twice as hard as shops – and the situation is worse in agriculture.

Councillor Michael Jones, the Labour leader of Crawley Borough Council, said that it was sad to see the economy flailing just as it was on the road to recovery.

Cllr Jones said that the effects of the economic and energy crises would hit councils and the broader economy as businesses struggled to pay their rates and workforce.

He said: “My expectations of the government are very low. We have to live with all the options that are available to us. I cannot conceal my anger at the scale of the problem we are in.

“I’ve watched events over the last week with something approaching horror. Never mind the energy crisis. What is happening is not an unfortunate mistake. It is an unforgivable action of national self-harm.”

The board was told that the IES report on the regional economy would be circulated to member organisations – councils, business organisations and universities and colleges – before the next meeting in February because the information was needed with the utmost urgency.