Jessica Bowles, director of strategic partnerships and impact for Bruntwood and Bruntwood SciTech, commented: “This was always going to be a tough budget, with the new government having to set out their stall for the first time post-election. The focus on growth and investment supported by important changes to the fiscal rules will give many businesses reason for optimism.
“Capital for infrastructure improvements will help us to unlock the potential of the country’s fastest growing regional cities, particularly Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool, and improve access to its high-growth sectors which have the biggest potential for economic growth. We were particularly pleased to hear specific commitments to reinstating plans to take the HS2 line from Birmingham through to Euston, upgrades to the Trans Pennine routes that will support Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, as well as capacity upgrades at stations such as Bradford and Manchester Victoria. This is a strong commitment from this government to improving connectivity that will provide many reassurances to the business community.
“These improvements have long been argued for by the Metro Mayors. We are therefore very supportive of seeing both Greater Manchester and the West Midlands being awarded the first single funding settlements next year, allowing them to continue to prioritise the most significant, meaningful investments in the areas that matter most to local people.
“The Chancellor’s £20bn commitment to protect R&D funding to ensure the UK can harness the full potential of its science base, alongside its initial commitments to a new Industrial Strategy, will be well received by many like us and we welcome the Government’s recognition that more can be done to capitalise on the nation’s strengths in science and support diffusion of innovation across the country to drive sustained increase in productivity. It was particularly heartening to see the commitments made into diagnostics and testing, providing more access for diagnostics businesses to grow and gain further and faster access to the NHS, something that private sector partnerships with the NHS, like those we have with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, can additionally accelerate to make real improvements in healthcare at pace.
“We need large scale sustained commitments to support the commercialisation and growth of the science, tech and innovation sectors in the long-term, and look forward to digesting today’s commitments in greater detail to help inform our recommendations ahead of the end of the consultation period for the Industrial Strategy next month.
“Beyond this, there were a number of other areas it was very reassuring to see commitments made, including £5bn investment in housebuilding, confirmation on the continuation of the Investment Zones and extension of the Innovation Accelerators, where stakeholders should now have the confidence to move forward with these plans that have the potential to supercharge the UK’s economic growth.”
