Tim Beaumont, Managing Director, Nemo Office Club
If true to its manifesto, the new government will look to address many of the issues our members have been pushing for through our national Keep It Local campaign: fairer support to small businesses by ensuring larger companies pay their rightful taxes and opening up competition for public contracts, giving SMEs the chance they deserve.
Promoting local procurement initiatives is key. By prioritising local suppliers for public sector contracts, the government can create significant opportunities for smaller businesses to thrive.
When it comes to retail, the government has set out a five-point plan to breathe life into our high streets. This needs to happen fast, and we need to see actions to back up the words. Talk of replacing business rates with a new system that aims to level the playing field between our high streets and online options will be music to many members’ ears, but we need to see what that would look like. It cannot give with one hand and take with the other.
Steve Carter, Managing Director, Advantia
Over the years, I have watched our local town centre wither away and become a place of almost desolation; the scene is a similar one when I travel on business around the country.
Only last year, one of our longstanding Advantia members told me that they had decided to close their retail shop and concentrate on the commercial side of their business – the reason being that they felt they could no longer compete with the likes of Tesco, Aldi and Amazon, and the footfall they had 10-20 years ago has simply disappeared.
I would like to see a government taskforce set up to regenerate town centres and a package put together to really help and support local independent retailers. Another issue is the challenge that sending goods over to Northern Ireland (NI) has become since Brexit. It used to be relatively easy to set up drop-ship arrangements with manufacturers and suppliers to deliver anywhere within the UK.
Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, with some suppliers refusing to deliver to NI and others imposing high minimum order levels in order to do so. It is now so costly and complex to send something as basic as a shredder across to NI that it isn’t cost effective for a supplier to expedite the order. This has to be looked at and made easier; it is just a ridiculous situation we find ourselves in.
James Day, Managing Director, Durable UK
The key is to restore market confidence for businesses over the short to medium term. Post-COVID, we seem to have had a great deal of market turbulence, which has made businesses more cautious in investment decisions and stunted growth.
Specifically, I’m keen to see how the Labour manifesto’s more ‘horizontal’ approach transpires with regard to investing more broadly across the economy rather than cherry-picking high value-added sectors to back. This should help our industry if the implementation is in line with what has been promised.
The pledge not to raise corporation tax is clearly welcome news; however, I believe a reduction in interest rates is more important in the longer term to increase investment and boost innovation and expansion opportunities.
Finally, the stance on sustainability initiatives is positive and aligned with our direction as a business and an industry. This should hopefully translate into increased opportunity in the public sector and tender business if greater importance is placed on the carbon footprint of products.
Andrew Gale, CEO, evo Group
The new Labour government faces challenges, but has the advantage of being able to implement its policies given the scale of the Commons majority – although this is out of line with its proportion of the vote.
If Labour want to take us all on the journey with them, they need to act responsibly and with balance. The real test is whether they can live up to the challenge to act and serve us all, not just their core voters – as the Prime Minister committed to in his first speech in the role. Words now need to be matched by actions.
The danger here is that they can do as they please; but just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should.
Aidan McDonough, CEO, Integra Business Solutions
I would like to see the new government provide financial incentives to get staff back into offices. This would give a huge boost to local economies and drive growth, particularly in the business supplies industry.
Increased costs, inflation and complex administration continue to stifle growth in the UK. Simplified red tape, easier access to funding and flexibility on payments would remove some of the barriers to growth.
I would also like to see additional financial support for businesses struggling with energy costs as well as easier access to grants for installing renewable energy sources. Working to improve our trading relations with Europe and easing administration are also on the wish list.
It would be great to see some additional investment in apprenticeship schemes, making sure they are robust and beneficial to both apprentice and employer. There is so much untapped potential getting lost in the system.
Businesses are also facing an ongoing battle with fraud/cyberattacks and seeing the financial impact on insurance premiums and third-party costs. Additional technical and financial support for smaller businesses would be very helpful.
On a final note, the new government needs to ensure that any reduction in the cost of labour, ie National Insurance (NI) payments or changes implemented to HR laws, are proportionate and do not place an additional burden on smaller businesses. NI at 13.8% together with 3% pension and minimum wage consequences could have a negative impact on recruitment
The government needs to be mindful that any new regulations under the regulatory framework also add to the pressure on businesses, invariably needing additional operational staff.
Martin Shaw, Managing Director, D3 Office Group
As a fairly nimble SME, we can often navigate around government strategy and not worry too unduly about it. However, it would be good to see more business stability and confidence, which will encourage investment in capital projects. If stability is backed up with low interest rates, we should also see more confidence for businesses to borrow to achieve their ambitions.
While we understand there are large gaps in public finances, financial stimulation from the government in the manufacturing and construction industries would be very helpful. The UK needs to build and produce more. This, in turn, would benefit businesses such as ourselves that supply goods and services to these entities.
We can see that changes are required to some aspects of employment law, but at the same time, would urge the new government not to put too much red tape in the way of employment rules; undue administration is an unnecessary burden that stymies growth.
The planned increases to public sector pay on top of large increases to the minimum wage are worrying to SMEs. Therefore, we would also urge Labour to exercise some restraint with pay awards and try to manage pay inflation. Otherwise, the result in the longer term will be more unemployment as we try to drive costs out of the business to pay for wage rises.
Shaun Tidman, Head of Sales, Avery UK
I hope this change in government gives us an opportunity to reset and gain some consistency and stability, and also revitalise the office products industry.
I’d like to see support for sustainability in the shape of tax benefits for cutting carbon footprints and moving to eco-friendly products and packaging. We see how fast the growth in e-commerce continues to happen. I would like to see nationwide high-speed internet and digital skills training so that even the smallest businesses can be competitive in the digital space.
Improved international trade relations post-Brexit are also important. We have already seen a coming together within the UK; I hope a Labour government can work to simplify import/export regulations and establish new trade agreements that reduce costs and increase opportunities for office products in new markets.
Mark Wilkinson, Regional VP, ACCO Brands UK & Ireland
Firstly, we should restore and enhance our relations with the EU, our biggest trading partner. Brexit has caused a lot of uncertainty and disruption for many businesses, and we must find ways to overcome the barriers and friction that have subsequently emerged.
Secondly, we need to increase our productivity and competitiveness, especially in the digital sector. This includes levelling the playing field between smaller businesses and big tech and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.
Thirdly, we have to revive our town and city centres, which have suffered greatly from the pandemic and the shift to remote working. A drive to encourage local government staff back to the office would help stimulate local economies and create a sense of community.
