After a leadership contest that seemed to drag on
forever, finally we have the result that matters – Liz Truss is the new leader
of the Conservative party, and therefore the new prime minister.
There will be no honeymoon period for the new PM;
Truss takes over amid a cost-of-living crisis that will need immediate action to
protect the country’s people and businesses from the
biggest hit to living standards in a century.
Of course, the cost of living crisis is also a cost
of doing business crisis, with event businesses and venues set to see potentially ruinous rises in energy bills without intervention.
"The sharply rising energy prices are affecting us
all," says Kerrin MacPhie, chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association. "With businesses being charged 20 per cent VAT and no cap on energy prices, this
will have a dramatic impact on our industry and needs to be addressed
immediately.
"Some small businesses are seeing increases of
500 per cent on existing energy bills of £140k, which is simply not sustainable. Government intervention is urgently required to
ensure small businesses survive. Otherwise, valuable events could be
compromised due to a seriously depleted supply chain."
In her speech following the announcement of her victory at the QEII Centre, Truss promised to “deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with
people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on
energy supply.”
The first details of that plan are expected to emerge this week.The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the energy
package could cost the Treasury more than £100 billion – more than the furlough
scheme. So it will be interesting to see how Truss squares this with the £30 billion package of tax cuts she promised during her leadership campaign.
Throw into the mix a widely-predicted recession and
further pay-related strike action across the public sector in the autumn and it’s
looking like a very tough time indeed for the latest incumbent of Number 10.
Current chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed that
targeted reductions in VAT and business rates are being prepared to help the hospitality
and retail sectors, so we should expect further details in due course. Zahawi has also
said he expects energy-intensive industries to be offered tax breaks to get
through the winter.
Beyond the immediate pressures
of energy costs and rising inflation, eventprofs are also hoping that the new
PM will commit to making the country more energy-efficient.
“We’re keen for the new Prime
Minister, Liz Truss, to ensure that the government commits to a strong
sustainability agenda,” says Warren Campbell, GM of London venue 15Hatfields. “The net zero target requires energy to be used more
efficiently and generated from clean sources. However, increased energy
costs could impact our progress to achieve the 2050 target.
“We’re calling for a raft of
energy efficiency measures to be introduced as they play a key role in fighting
climate change and reducing carbon emissions, in addition to increasing the
amount of financial support provided.”
Samme Allen, CEO of conferenceemcees.com, says that Truss needs to reopen the Department for Energy & Climate Change, which closed in 2016, with "a minister in the cabinet who can hold all accountable. This is not a short term drama we are facing and whilst BEIS have done ok, it’s too broad a scope for an urgent priority."
For other eventprofs, greater recognition and support for the sector is on their wishlist for the new PM.
Chloe Richardson, MD of Event Leaders Exchange, says: "I would love to see those in power actually making changes to the education system and career transparency - making sure that the next generation are preparing for real-world careers, whereas up until now events and hospitality have been totally sidelined for more 'traditional' subjects and trajectories.
"Other countries take our industry incredibly seriously, whilst in the UK we appear to paint it as a part-time option or something for those 'just wanting to work in hotels'. It's lucky that so many brilliant people have fallen into it by accident, but the government needs to do better to support its incredible industries from the grass roots."
Elsewhere in the sector, the recent reports that Jacob Rees-Mogg is blocking
an £800k VisitBritain advertising campaign
aimed at bringing back key international markets seems unhelpful
to the sector, to say the least.
Truss’s ascent to PM means that the UK has now had four
different prime ministers in the six years since the Brexit vote. Whether Truss
can provide the long-term stability that the country and the sector so desperately wants and needs, or whether the
merry-go-round will continue to whirl, will depend largely on the new prime
minister’s actions in the first few days and weeks of her premiership.
