Business Bites: theatre, art and Brexit

I had the pleasure of attending the launch Chichester Festival Theatre’s new corporate membership programme last week. This offers businesses three new entry levels to support the theatre. As well as tickets, business will benefit from access to networking events, advertising and other incentives. Members also qualify for two places on the Workplace Ambassador Scheme, aimed at younger staff. We were reminded that Chichester’s theatre is the best regionally outside of London but must invest in bringing theatre to young people to protect its future.

The Nest Appeal is looking to raise £1,500,000 for the theatre’s newest space, which will be used to nurture young talent. Everyone is encouraged to support this wonderful initiative. Over 100 Plaster of Paris Eggs designed by local and internationally renowned artists, printmakers, sculptors and illustrators, as well as CFT’s very own Youth Theatre –are now available for sale via online auction. You can view the eggs in the theatre foyer now. You look at the auction catalogue and make your bid here:

https://ww2.emma-live.com/nesteggauction2024/home_page

In broader business news, as the dust settles on the Chancellor’s budget, it seems that all sorts of businesses will be impacted by the rise on national insurance contributions by employers. This includes local GP surgeries and charities such as Dementia Support, Stonepillow and St Wilfrid’s hospice. These organisations must now find additional extra sums just to fulfil their running costs. It seems peculiar that no exemption has been made for frontline services that are already feeling the strain of squeezed budgets and an increased cost of living. These charities step in to help the public sector serve our local community where the local council would be unable to meet these very real and immediate needs. Additional strain on these services cannot be good for Chichester.

While the Chancellor has said that no further tax increases are on the horizon, the challenge of getting Britain firing on all cylinders again does seem to be a little harder. Businesses will naturally have to be more cautious. Yet there seems to be a lack of honesty as to why we find ourselves in this mess to start with. Only by addressing that can we really repair the foundations. The dire state of the nation’s finances has been laid clearly at Covid, the invasion of Ukraine and gross mismanagement by the former government. There are clearly contributing factors across all three issues, but the elephant in the room remains Brexit.

According to the Office of Budget Responsibility, national productivity has fallen 4%, and imports and exports are down 15%, compared to had we stayed in the EU. Simultaneously, new trade deals with non-EU countries haven’t made us any richer. The OBR says that this is because the deals so far either replicate deals that the UK already benefited from as an EU member state, or do not have a material impact on our forecast. Our closest ally has now chosen a clear isolationist approach. We have never been more alone. Brexit was a catastrophic mistake for British business.

This isn’t just a problem at a national level. Research by the ‘Brexit Cost Project’ estimates the cost of Brexit to Chichester to be significant. The economy of the district is now smaller as a result, by about £202 million. Manufacturing and agriculture are both important elements of our local economy whose work has got that much harder to maintain since Brexit.

It seems disingenuous therefore to claim that plugging some fiscal holes and hosting a business conference will put us all, our district included, well on the way to recovery. It is now harder for our farmers and manufacturers to export their goods, the extra cash we were promised never materialised, and GDP is down 4-5%. The OBR says growth will be bigger this year and next because of investment, but afterwards growth will slow because of interest rates, taxes etc. What we need is a sustainable, long term solution.

The EU is the world's largest trading bloc. It is the world's largest trader of manufactured goods and services. The EU ranks first in both inbound and outbound international investments. The EU is the top trading partner for 80 countries. Why wouldn’t we want to have access to this? We cannot negotiate better deals alone. We are obviously the weaker partner in any negotiation. America has made it clear that there will be significant global tariffs on foreign goods. That isn’t good for British business.

It is only right that now the economic and social experiment of Brexit has had the time to cause some real economic damage, that this topic is actually debated and discussed honestly. Our district and our country deserves this at least.