Page 3 - Survey 2020: The Star Business

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OUTLOOK
RICHARD WRIGHT: SHEFFIELD CHAMBER
Sheffield’s top five priorities for 2020 to help city do well
People say a week is a
long time in business and politics, and November and December proved that locally and nationally.
Keith Ridgway and John Mothersole gone, I'm going, and it will be really interest- ing to see what happens in our local authority elections in May. We have a Govern- ment with a large majority described to me as having a business friendly manifesto with a single potentially busi- ness disaster policy on Brexit - leaving withou a trade deal!
In 2020 I suspect that eve- rybody in this city wants it to do well and I am no exception.
My top five priorities for 2020 are: Firstly, leave Europe with a good trade deal. Give our exporters and importers clarity on how they will have to do business in the future so we can get organised to do it.
Secondly, do a proper re- view of business rates. We cannot afford for business rates to be the reason why some SME's don't survive.
Thirdly, I want to see the whole of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail built into the spending review. Shef- field has been woefully un- derinvested in rail and our services to our nearest neigh- bours reflect that. They are not fit for purpose.
Fourthly, I'd like our lo- cal authority leaders to come together constructively and
Sheffield is an ambitious city.
really embrace devolution because that, and the money that comes from it is an ena- bler of all sorts of projects like Heart of the City, Olym- pic Legacy Park, the extreme sports park, Midland Station development, Doncaster Sheffield Station rail station, vocational education routes
and a myriad of smaller pro- jects including creating a city that people want to invest in and create wealth and jobs.
Fifthly, I would like to see us internationally, nationally and locally commit and start delivering on reversing the current direction of climate change.
Ultimately, the planet is the legacy we leave our chil- dren and grandchildren and we are making a right mess of it at the moment. Busi- ness will have to take an ac- tive role in this, we cannot be passive.
A long and ambitious list for an ambitious city. There
are specific things I might add but I hope they are cap- tured in priority four.
Creating wealth and jobs and up-skilling our people is the only sustainable way of breaking down some of the social and geographical divi- sions in this city.
They are probably the
main things I am least proud of but we can do something about them and all partners in the city need to play a role in it.
l Richard Wright is step- ping down from Sheffield Chamber this month after nine years.
Coping with the Government’s big anti-business policy
In the post-election envi- ronment investors are faced with a dilemma, writes Jillian Thomas, MD of Future Life Wealth Management.
A business-friendly Con- servative government - with one big anti-business policy: Brexit. From the end of this month, The UK will enter into a transition period, and this will last until the end of 2020.
Business now has clarity that the UK will leave the EU
andgivescorporateleadersthe ability to make decisions and deploy cash retained because of political indecision.
But this is just the start, whichofthe50shadesofBrexit we will end up with?
Internationalinvestorswho avoided UK assets in the after- mathofthereferendummaybe encouragedbacktothemarket following the election result. While a stronger pound will hitearningsforglobalcorpora-
tions’profits,butbeprofitable for domestically-orientated companies.
The US election is less than a year away. It remains to be seen whether Americans will continue to support Donald Trump’s brand of populism.
However, in the run-up to theelectionIwouldnotbesur- prised to see the president fo- cusing on strengthening the economy and coming to an agreement with China, which
wouldgiveglobaltradeaboost. Moving forward, it is all about international trade, the impact of the UK relation- ship with the EU and the rest of the world, as we move to more brinkmanship on UK-
EU trade.
It is possible that the
pound’sstrengthmayfade.We expect investment returns in the immediate-to-medium time frame to be more vola- tile. The one thing for certain,
is that it is absolutely essential that we get our heads out of the sand and confront our own personal financial circum- stances.Thereneedstobecon- tinuous reassessment of the financial planning phase you areinandthestylesandtypesof investments appropriate dur- ing these periods.
Your wealth needs to have a futureduring,andpostthecur- rent political turmoil, it’s time to take control.
Jillian Thomas.