IT MIGHT be something of a euphemism to say we are living in pretty dynamic times but I’ve tried to capture a flavour of the priorities as the Chamber sees them today and the things we are focusing on for our members and the wider North-east business community.
Lots of technical and (sometimes) science-based work is going on to restart the economy so the Chamber’s energy is going into how quickly it can recover. There is little point in businesses making - often expensive - plans to re-open if no one wants to buy what they are selling. Our population has been scared by the coverage of Covid-19 and so the messaging now must quickly shift to re-establishing consumer confidence and demand.
To make progress towards a return to normal life and business as we knew it, it’s vital that governments, businesses and our citizens learn to manage the situation together, not to hide from it. A combination of corporate and personal responsibility will be required if we are to move forward. Policy must support the key interdependencies of employee safety and trust, transport; and schooling and childcare. If all of these don’t work together, the recovery will be patchy at best.
The chamber network has been at the heart of securing and refining many of the support packages put in place, including the extended and more flexible Job Retention Scheme. Right now our policy and lobbying work is focused on a number of points, from looking beyond the current support schemes to identify further measures necessary to protect the worst impacted sectors and their supply chains; and getting clarity from Scottish Government about a timetable for its four phase route map to lift restrictions; to asking that Scotland and the wider UK come in line with World Health Organisation guidance that one metre represents safe physical distancing as is the case in many other countries. Making this change is transformational in making businesses viable.
We also want to ensure that the oil and gas sector deal is delivered at pace to support our region’s role in leading an accelerated energy transition; and will be continuing our calls to ensure the North-east is strongly connected to the rest of the UK and beyond by air and fast rail and working with government to ensure quarantine measures do not put UK business at a competitive disadvantage
Four years of Brexit have been replaced by four months of Covid but the former hasn’t gone away. It seems increasingly likely that we will leave the EU on December 31 without any deals in place, impacting all companies that import from or export to Europe. From what we know, the number of customs documents required each year will increase from 50 million to circa 300 million, so it is vital that companies involved in exporting and importing are informed, understand the skills requirements and are ready to manage the change.
We are all in this together and are all part of the solution. One way we can do this is to make sure we buy local, support regional companies and brands to put money back into the tills of our economy as quickly as possible.
In Society & Economy in Modern Britain 1700-1850, Richard Brown wrote: “Aberdeen had a number of striking characteristics one of which was its economic resilience based on the adaptability of business leaders who found new means of investment and employment when old ones faded”.
Collectively, we need to write the next chapter now.
Russell Borthwick is chief executive, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
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