Rishi Sunak Archives - Page 5 of 5

Strayside Sunday: Planters? We have bigger problems up the road

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

People really care about transport and traffic.

In my column last week I made the point that car design has been made less interesting; less angular, more rounded, better to adhere to pedestrian safety concerns. In my mailbag this week I was taken to task for suggesting that cars only occasionally collide with pedestrians. For the avoidance of doubt I want to make plain that any pedestrian death is of course one too many.

In fact, it has been pointed out to me that in the United Kingdom during 2019 there were 1743 pedestrian casualties with 1748 road deaths (including vehicle occupants). I agree, this cannot be defined as “occasional.” However, for perspective, given that the Department for Transport reports that we Brits took to the roads in our vehicles for a total of 272 billion miles in 2019, the number of pedestrian deaths is mercifully low.

Clearly pedestrians were not ‘front of mind’ to car drivers confronted with North Yorkshire County Council’s implementation of new traffic control measures at Harrogate’s Beech Grove this week. Finding their route blocked with large planters, it seems that rather than turn around and navigate the roads, several drivers simply took off across the stray to avoid the obstacles. The impromptu rally left several deep tire tracks in our cherished green space and, allegedly, saw other drivers find alternate routes through the private carparks of the apartment buildings on the road. For some reason Dick Dastardly, Muttley and Penelope Pitstop spring to mind: Whacky Races indeed.

The Stray Defence Association (SDA) has mobilised, with their Chair, the redoubtable Judy D’Arcy Thompson to the fore. It strikes me that what with Harrogate BID (BID), Independent Harrogate (IH), Harrogate and District Cycle Action (HDCA), Pinewoods Conservation Group (PCG) and the SDA, the political scene in Harrogate is beginning to resemble Ulster in the troubles. Now, before you get exercised, of course I don’t actually think that, nor is it my intent to diminish the horrible importance of the traumatic lived experiences of those across the Irish Sea. Indeed, nor do I demean the activities of Harrogate’s various interest groups. Quite the reverse. In fact this column is a weekly and affectionate exercise in celebrating Harrogate’s vibrant local life and politics.

By the way, 2019 was also the year in which North Yorkshire County Council conducted a public survey into traffic congestion. 77% of us reported that we would use cycling and walking infrastructure, were it to be built. This is but one piece of evidence being used by our fearless local leaders this week as they reached for the top shelf, grabbed an existing plan or two and blew off the dust. Yes, plans to pedestrianise James Street and Station Parade are back on the agenda and lovely artists renderings of tree-lined, single-lane boulevards, segregated cycling lanes and promenades are circulating. The almost £8 million Station Gateway Project is alive and well.

This will likely, and with some justification, enrage many in Harrogate’s business community, particularly those with commercial interests on once-proud James Street. What I want to see and hear from our county and borough councillors is a cogent plan for economic renewal, for enterprise creation, for the bringing together of place, work and community. In the absence of leadership, vision and common purpose, narrow interest groups with opposing views will continue to flourish. Discourse will be lost to the cacophonous and shouty voices of entrenched opinion.

The world is undergoing profound changes, accelerated by Covid-19. How we work will never be the same again, with company after company embracing a permanent work from home culture. In-store retail shopping, already in decline before the pandemic, faces the end of days. One of the most successful companies of our time is called Shopify; a Canadian tech giant that allows anyone to create a brilliant virtual retail presence for their venture (including payment and product distribution) for a monthly subscription of £25. In the face of such profound change it just isn’t good enough to dust off old plans and comforting drawings. We need discontinuity, creative thinking and innovation. Nor is it good enough to find comfort in the way things were, in how we have always done things, in how we have built our businesses over the years.

Harrogate remains a great place to live, this notwithstanding that we hear this week that our council tax is going up significantly (£50 at Band D). As we wait with bated breath for the Prime Minister’s Monday press conference, for what we hope will be a tentative lockdown easing roadmap, the £300 billion plus costs of Covid-19 and its economic impact begin to hove chillingly into view. Council tax increases are just the beginning.

Conservatives both national and local have always felt that their point of difference is effective economic stewardship. With the Bank of England predicting that unemployment could reach 10% by the middle of 2022, the cost of welfare benefits is set to sky-rocket. Rishi Sunak is in an unenviable position; he’s paid Paul and now needs to rob Peter. It seems inevitable that income tax rates will have to rise. A one-off wealth tax has been suggested. Increased inheritance tax is on the table, as are both a capital gains tax increase and a closure of tax efficient enterprise investment schemes. If implemented with a dead hand, if we are ever to pay off our Covid-19 bill, these measures could choke off any prospect of the economic recovery the country desperately needs.

Local traffic and transport issues are important but they are a second order problem. We are in danger of squabbling over the deckchairs while the Titanic sinks.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Do you have a view on this column or is there a political issue you’d like Paul to write about? Get in touch on paul@thestrayferret.co.uk

Harrogate businesses could get grants of up to £9,000

Harrogate businesses could be in line for further financial support as more grants have been announced by the government.

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, unveiled a one-off top up grant of up to £9,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses amid the national lockdown.

The funding comes as part of a £4.6 billion package and the grants will be based on the rateable value of each business.

The government expects the grants will help to support more than 600,000 businesses.

Mr Sunak also announced a further £594 million worth of discretionary funding for local authorities to target those who will not be eligible for the grant but might be affected by the lockdown.

He said:

“The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge – and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.

“Throughout the pandemic we’ve taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we’re announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring.

“This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.”

It comes as businesses in the district reacted to the announcement of a further national lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday evening that a new lockdown would come into force, with a stay at home order.

Sandra Doherty, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, said the measures would be difficult but were necessary to reduce transmission until the vaccination took effect. She said:

“It’s going to be incredibly tough for all businesses over the coming months, and sadly not all will survive into the spring.

“Until we can resume life as we knew it in pre-covid days, the Government is going to have to continue its support to businesses, and extend it to those self-employed people who have so far not received any financial help at all.”

Strayside Sunday: Now is the time to seek a better future for our children

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

Something different this week from me this week. A bit of a manifesto actually.

Having spent the last two weekends in the company of my adult daughters, I’m struck by the uncertainties they now face. When covid struck, Daughter 1 was furloughed; then, when it was realised that her employment had commenced too late to participate in the scheme, she was placed on 50% salary. And then, perhaps inevitably, she was made redundant. In the past month she has applied for more than 100 jobs, but to no avail; I suspect her experience is no different from that of hundreds of thousands of young people across the country.

Daughter 2 is now well into her third year of drama school; a middle-class child at a private university. She’s a worker (her father is from mill working stock) and earns money in her spare time working behind the bar at a pub. I’m afraid she’d better get used to it. As things currently stand, little opportunity for graduates is afforded by the arts and culture sector. In common with so many others, her sector is in crisis.

As a parent, I encourage, I console and I subsidise.

So, instead of sounding off from the cheap seats about the actions and intentions of others I feel compelled to set down some of my own views, such as they are, about how, in the age of covid, we need to think about repairing and renewing ourselves, each other and our society. And make no mistake, the economic and knock on social consequences of the pandemic will last at least a generation. We are emphatically not “post” covid and we won’t be for a very long time.

My view is that we need to take this time to think on and think deep, to re-examine the beliefs we have lived by heretofore and to ask ourselves whether or not they are fit for purpose, let alone fit to create a world we would want for our children and theirs.

My daughters, and yours, face a new reality. Their vista is nowhere near as pretty and compelling as my own was, thirty years ago. Surely we have a responsibility to ask ourselves what can we do to make things better for them?

In this column I want to outline three broad subject areas – inclusive growth, health and wellbeing and justice – to which I’ll return in future weeks, to explore in more detail and to place in local context. Additionally, in the age of the NHS Test & Trace App, I will touch on the dangers of the disruption caused by data and technology, if its benefits for capital are not balanced by a consideration for people. Technology is here, let’s give it a purpose.

So, for the record, I believe a good and prosperous society is one where economic growth is not, de facto, good. Inclusive economic growth – in which people can participate and engage actively in meaningful work, benefit fully from the fruits of that work, and be valued by both employer and government, with true agency in their economic and social relationships – builds better communities. Communities that thrive, rather than simply grow.

I believe that good health and wellbeing for people and children is a right to enjoy; governments and business are responsible for that achievement. Those rights bring responsibilities, so people must play their full part in looking after themselves. If covid has taught us anything, we must cherish our NHS, it’s our first and foremost democratic privilege. It is not simply an entitlement.

And I believe that justice should be available equally and for all, unconstrained by means, social standing or personal health histories. In turn, people have a responsibility to do the right thing. During lockdown most of us behaved properly (most of the time). Now, as we begin to feel the vice grip of restriction tighten on our movements and liberty; behavioural compliance is slipping – part fatigue, part defiance, on any view, wrong.

As we seek to build a good society, technology, data and artificial Intelligence are revolutionising democracy, the work of government, public service provision, human relationships and community fabric (whether these are ‘place-based’ or ‘of interest’). Further, data and technology are revolutionising traditional business models, their fundamental economics and the value-exchange (what we each get from the deal) they provide with consumers like you and me.

At the moment, technology is being harnessed almost exclusively for the good of capital. This balance needs to change; because technology offers us opportunities to make things better for all by connecting people through technology to tackle social exclusion blight, solitude and unwarranted loneliness; by using data insights and understanding to strengthen the human “ties that bind” people together in community; and by promoting data rights and agency to empower people in our new digital economy and in their relationship with government.

I could be wrong. I often am. But if we don’t anchor our values and the way we behave in new modes of thinking, the future looks bleak indeed.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Next Sunday Paul will be taking a break – Strayside Sunday will return on October 11th.

Harrogate hospitality businesses welcome Chancellor’s winter support

Hospitality owners in Harrogate have welcomed further help from Chancellor Rishi Sunak after he outlined billions of pounds’ worth of measures for the winter.

Mr Sunak announced an extension to VAT cuts for hospitality, a wage subsidy for part-time workers and more loans for struggling businesses.

Outlining his plans to the House of Commons today, he said the measures were designed to “protect jobs and the economy over the winter period”.

Among the announcements was a decision to subsides wages of workers who work shorter hours. The government will top up wages for workers covering up to two-thirds of their hours for the next six months.

It comes as the furlough scheme is set to finish at the end of October.

Kimberly Wilson, chair of Accommodation Harrogate, said the support for part-time workers would be welcomed by bed and breakfasts.

She said:

“That will be useful, especially going into November and December it will save jobs.

“But we need to get the full detail of how it is going to work to see how it will help us on the ground.”

Ms Wilson added that further support would be welcomed as B&Bs have seen trade affected by cancellations in conferences, exhibitions and events.

Further measures will also see the VAT cut for the hospitality sector extended until March. Amid the pandemic, the government cut the rate to 5% to support those in the hospitality and tourism sector.

Peter Banks, managing director at Rudding Park Hotel and Spa, said the measure would be useful but should be targeted at businesses which are struggling.

He said:

“If Rishi does this it would be superb.

“It could be more targeted as it is conference, wedding and city centre businesses that are suffering. However, any help will be gratefully received.”

Mr Sunak told MPs that loans to support struggling businesses would be extended into November and offer terms of up to 10 years to reduce monthly payments.

Grants for the self-employed will also be offered into the winter.

Harrogate College welcomes cash boost for apprenticeships

The principal of Harrogate College says a government scheme to pay companies who take on new apprentices will help address the “skills gap” in Harrogate.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Danny Wild said he was “very pleased” at today’s announcement from the Chancellor — but the college is waiting for more details on how the scheme will operate.

In his summer statement Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that from August to January, any company that hires an apprentice aged 16 to 24 will receive £2,000 from the government, while those that hire apprentices over 25 will be paid £1,500.

The government will also inject £100m into further education colleges to create more places on level 2 and 3 courses.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Sunak said:

“Over 700,000 people are leaving education this year and many more are just starting out in their careers. Coronavirus has hit them hard. We cannot lose this generation.”

Harrogate College offers a number of apprenticeships in a range of sectors including hospitality, beauty and engineering.

They currently have 120 apprentices which they had hoped to double in 2021 before Covid-19 struck.

Mr Wild said the scheme will encourage employers in the district to take on apprentices.

He said:

“18 – 19-year-olds are a real vulnerable group at the moment. We’re really pleased with this announcement and it supports what Harrogate College is trying to do in the district and some of the labour market needs that Harrogate has.”

Covid-19 has brought about a new way of working for many businesses and Mr Wild hopes some of them will take advantage of the scheme to re-skill staff.

He added:

“We’re not going back to be our offices from 9-5. A lot of businesses are looking at how they operate and pulling out of office spaces. This scheme will help businesses who have employees looking to move up or change their way of working.

“Apprenticeships are for all age groups and for all organisations. This money will help all businesses re-map how they are going to operate or bring new skills to their operation.

“The positive is it will address the skills gap within all businesses in the district.”

District’s restaurants cautiously welcome Chancellor’s help

Restaurants in the district had a mixed response to the Chancellor’s announcements today to help the hospitality sector. One restaurant owner said she was “very pleased” but others were cautious.

Rishi Sunak’s announcements included a 6 month reduction in VAT to 5%. The ‘eat out to help out’ scheme was also introduced to give diners a 50% discount on Monday and Wednesday in participating restaurants and cafes.

Restaurants were grateful for the additional help but wanted to see how the measures would be introduced. These announcements are hoped to encourage people to return to eating out.

Sarah Hinchliff, owner of Drum and Monkey restaurant in Harrogate said:

“I am very pleased with what has been announced. It’s increased my confidence. We are still going to be here but it’s been difficult, anything that helps to bring people back in is great. It’s been a difficult week but it’s bolstered how I am feeling it just going to take time for people to return. It will help us immensely.”

Nicole Mangan, general manager at Farmhouse restaurant Harrogate:

“The devil is in the detail, the reduction in VAT is fantastic. We expected that as a way to help businesses stay open. The discount is great but we’re closed Monday and Tuesday normally so it may be something we look at to see if we open. It could really help us on quieter days, £20 is essentially a main and dessert which could encourage people to come to us if they know they can get all of that for £10. We need to see more details before we get our hopes up I think.”

The Chancellor’s announcements are in an effort to encourage people to return to eating out.

Margaret Ninness, owner of The Willow Restaurant in Pateley Bridge:

“I’ve recently changed my business to make it smaller so I no longer pay VAT, but for those still registered this would be fantastic. The ‘eat in’ scheme would be fine for me but if you’re waiting to get the money back with a tight budget it could be difficult. But I do think they’re doing their best and they are helping everyone.”

Harrogate was busy over the weekend as restaurants and pubs reopened for the first time in three months. Sandra Doherty, Chief Executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, said:

“The Chancellor’s statement will be welcomed by many businesses in Harrogate, in particular those in the hospitality sector. Whilst the cut in VAT for food, accommodation and attractions, coupled with the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme are only temporary, I’m sure they will make it more attractive for businesses in the hospitality sector to reopen their doors.”

Top Harrogate hotelier hopes VAT cut will generate demand

A top Harrogate hotelier has said he hopes that a cut in VAT for the sector and a discount on sit down meals will help to generate demand.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today that VAT for the sector will be cut by 15% for six months and a 50% discount for sit down meals from Monday to Wednesday for the whole of August.

The sector is worth a reported £200 million to Harrogate and employs around 9,500 people across the district.

Peter Banks, managing director of Rudding Park Hotel and Spa and chairman of Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, said the measures were good news for the sector which has bore the brunt of lockdown.

He said:

“It’s great news if it generates demand for us.

“The discount was very creative and I’m going to have to get my head around the announcement and come up with marketing strategies.

“So far the response has been very good to reopening our pub.”

The move comes as restaurants, bars and cafes reopened across the Harrogate District this past weekend after three months of lockdown.

The measures by Mr Sunak are the latest effort to get the sector, which saw 80% of businesses across the UK temporarily stop trading during lockdown, back up and running.

Local authorities in the Harrogate District have already moved to create more space outside bars and restaurants to increase capacity.

But industry owners have already warned that businesses will have to take advantage of the remaining summer months in order to survive a “tough winter” period.

Harrogate Borough Council leader, Richard Cooper, warned earlier this week that some businesses will not survive the impending economic downturn.

Harrogate estate agents relieved at stamp duty holiday

Harrogate estate agents say a stamp-duty holiday could help revive a struggling housing market.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in his summer statement that the threshold for stamp duty will be raised from£125,000 per home to £500,000.

The measure will only be temporary and is intended to boost a flagging housing market that has been disrupted due to coronavirus.

Harrogate has been no exception and it is hoped the change in stamp duty could bring some confidence back to the market.

Estate agent Andrew Hill told the Stray Ferret that the stamp duty holiday will give the market in Harrogate a boost after several fallow months.

He said:

“I think it will be a positive step in the right direction and it might just help people buy a house. It’s money in the right place at the right time to kickstart the housing market. We’re looking forward to it.”

Even though the market shut down from March to May, Mr Hill said the early signs for the rest of the year are positive.

He added:

“The market has set off a lot stronger than we ever dreamt of.

A lot of pent up demand got satisfied as lockdown restrictions eased. The news about stamp duty will help again.

The market will slow down people will be a bit more nervous but there hasn’t been too many signs of that so far.”

Will Linley, chief executive of Linley & Simpson, said it was a major boost for the industry and one that should “turbo charge” the Yorkshire property market.

He said:

“Whilst we have seen the property market making a steady post-Covid recovery, today’s announcement by the Chancellor is very welcome news indeed.

“There was a fear that its introduction would be delayed, which would have immediately put the brakes house sales.

“The stamp duty holiday will make a huge difference for those purchasing properties up to £500,000 and will encourage some to look at flats and houses that were originally out of their price bracket.”

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