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| London business chief: we will find a way through Brexit, but government must help London business chief: we will find a way through Brexit, but government must help | |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| You might say that Colin Stanbridge is in the confidence business. As chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) since 2002, he has worked for the interests of thousands of companies in the capital, most of them small and medium enterprises, over a period when even global financial crisis and domestic austerity failed to derail the nation’s principal economic locomotive. Now comes the turbulence of Brexit. Stanbridge remains upbeat. | You might say that Colin Stanbridge is in the confidence business. As chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) since 2002, he has worked for the interests of thousands of companies in the capital, most of them small and medium enterprises, over a period when even global financial crisis and domestic austerity failed to derail the nation’s principal economic locomotive. Now comes the turbulence of Brexit. Stanbridge remains upbeat. |
| “Businesses, especially the smaller ones, are very pragmatic,” he says. It is the very first thing he says when asked about the impact of the Leave vote, sitting in his office in Queen Street in the Square Mile. “They may well have been shocked, as many people were, that the vote across the country went the way it did, but I have absolutely no doubt that they will find a way through and that London will find a way through.” | “Businesses, especially the smaller ones, are very pragmatic,” he says. It is the very first thing he says when asked about the impact of the Leave vote, sitting in his office in Queen Street in the Square Mile. “They may well have been shocked, as many people were, that the vote across the country went the way it did, but I have absolutely no doubt that they will find a way through and that London will find a way through.” |
| The optimistic note is struck against a pessimistic backdrop. The most recent of the LCCCI’s regular Capital 500 surveys, conducted by ComRes during August, unearthed continuing deteriorating expectations that had begun in the run-up to the EU referendum and are now projected into the future. The survey found that during the third quarter of this year, both domestic and export demand for goods and services fell, as did employment levels. It concluded that “on balance, 9% of London businesses expected their overall company prospects to decline, moving into negative territory for the first time”. | The optimistic note is struck against a pessimistic backdrop. The most recent of the LCCCI’s regular Capital 500 surveys, conducted by ComRes during August, unearthed continuing deteriorating expectations that had begun in the run-up to the EU referendum and are now projected into the future. The survey found that during the third quarter of this year, both domestic and export demand for goods and services fell, as did employment levels. It concluded that “on balance, 9% of London businesses expected their overall company prospects to decline, moving into negative territory for the first time”. |
| Stanbridge has called for “solid reassurance” from the government and warned against complacency: “As we said in our Brexit response, no one is panicking. However, there are serious issues the government needs to recognise.” For him, the opportunity side of the Brexit balance sheet is largely about concentrating minds on London’s strengths as a business environment and the value of making them stronger. | Stanbridge has called for “solid reassurance” from the government and warned against complacency: “As we said in our Brexit response, no one is panicking. However, there are serious issues the government needs to recognise.” For him, the opportunity side of the Brexit balance sheet is largely about concentrating minds on London’s strengths as a business environment and the value of making them stronger. |
| As employers weigh the pros and cons of re-locating, Stanbridge asks out loud if they really want to ship out to Stuttgart. Or even Paris: “We have a huge number of advantages in terms of the language, the legal system and, actually, very importantly, as a place to live.” The Chamber is urging support for exporters and has renewed long-standing calls for decisive further investment in transport capacity and for greater devolution of powers to London government. | As employers weigh the pros and cons of re-locating, Stanbridge asks out loud if they really want to ship out to Stuttgart. Or even Paris: “We have a huge number of advantages in terms of the language, the legal system and, actually, very importantly, as a place to live.” The Chamber is urging support for exporters and has renewed long-standing calls for decisive further investment in transport capacity and for greater devolution of powers to London government. |
| The cry is to press boldly ahead with Crossrail 2 and a Crossrail 3; and with new river crossings in the east; and with airport expansion - not just one more runway, but two!: “We need these things. We need them more than ever.” Stanbridge says he wrote to Sadiq Khan and had a meeting with him, urging him to revisit and enlarge on the work of the London Finance Commission (LFC) set up by Boris Johnson, which argued for giving the mayor and the boroughs direct control over the use to which all property taxes raised in the capital were put. Khan, already a convert, did just that. An interim report by LFC2 concludes that there is also “scope to devolve an assigned share of one or more major national taxes,” as a way of facilitating growth, making a better job of tackling deprivation and taking “steps towards a better-run country.” | The cry is to press boldly ahead with Crossrail 2 and a Crossrail 3; and with new river crossings in the east; and with airport expansion - not just one more runway, but two!: “We need these things. We need them more than ever.” Stanbridge says he wrote to Sadiq Khan and had a meeting with him, urging him to revisit and enlarge on the work of the London Finance Commission (LFC) set up by Boris Johnson, which argued for giving the mayor and the boroughs direct control over the use to which all property taxes raised in the capital were put. Khan, already a convert, did just that. An interim report by LFC2 concludes that there is also “scope to devolve an assigned share of one or more major national taxes,” as a way of facilitating growth, making a better job of tackling deprivation and taking “steps towards a better-run country.” |
| And then there’s the the question of labour. “In our round table discussions with members, the message about talent and migrant workers and the necessity of having those workers in London is huge. We have to find some way to keep them or London will be severely damaged,” Stanbridge says. An advocate of introducing a London-specific work permit or visa, he accepts that the case for foreign migration can be difficult to make. Politicians will speak up for wooing the highly-skilled and qualified but not “the people who keep the hospitals clean and make the Underground run. They may not be, in those terms, highly-skilled workers, but they are vital.” | And then there’s the the question of labour. “In our round table discussions with members, the message about talent and migrant workers and the necessity of having those workers in London is huge. We have to find some way to keep them or London will be severely damaged,” Stanbridge says. An advocate of introducing a London-specific work permit or visa, he accepts that the case for foreign migration can be difficult to make. Politicians will speak up for wooing the highly-skilled and qualified but not “the people who keep the hospitals clean and make the Underground run. They may not be, in those terms, highly-skilled workers, but they are vital.” |
| Anticipating objections that London business favours a liberal line on overseas labour because they provide a source of cheap labour, he speaks of his own ancestry: Polish, three generations back, settling in Liverpool. “It’s about the city I want to live in. Some people get angry that they come off the Tubes and buses and don’t hear an English accent in the shops, but I think that’s great. As a citizen of London, I want it to be a city that says, ‘You know what? You come here, you work hard, you pay your taxes, you are law-abiding, then you are a Londoner.’ If we lose that, it’s bad for the city.” | Anticipating objections that London business favours a liberal line on overseas labour because they provide a source of cheap labour, he speaks of his own ancestry: Polish, three generations back, settling in Liverpool. “It’s about the city I want to live in. Some people get angry that they come off the Tubes and buses and don’t hear an English accent in the shops, but I think that’s great. As a citizen of London, I want it to be a city that says, ‘You know what? You come here, you work hard, you pay your taxes, you are law-abiding, then you are a Londoner.’ If we lose that, it’s bad for the city.” |
| Stanbridge dismisses the idea that the Brexit negotiations should be approached as “some kind of poker game” in which the UK’s hand must remain fully concealed. For him, the broad outline of the best possible deal is already perfectly clear, and London should be at the heart of striking it: if you can’t have full access to the single market and the free movement of people at the same time, then you bargain for the nearest to both you can get. It’s about pragmatism. It’s about confidence. It’s about doing business. | Stanbridge dismisses the idea that the Brexit negotiations should be approached as “some kind of poker game” in which the UK’s hand must remain fully concealed. For him, the broad outline of the best possible deal is already perfectly clear, and London should be at the heart of striking it: if you can’t have full access to the single market and the free movement of people at the same time, then you bargain for the nearest to both you can get. It’s about pragmatism. It’s about confidence. It’s about doing business. |