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Growth statement/weak pound for Metro

Journalist: Rosie Murray-West, Freelance

ended 28. September 2022

Looking for businesses to comment on how they feel the turmoil in the markets will affect them. What did they think of the growth statement initially, and what do they think now that markets have fallen, the pound is weak and there is the threat of an interest rate rise.

If they can answer

a) what do you think it will do to consumer confidence?

b) how will your business be affected specifically? 

c) what do you think the government should do now?

 

Will need today!  Many thanks Rosie 

10 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
a
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Crazy Kwarteng and the gang need to stick the car in reverse and hit the gas, quick. Consumer confidence is in the toilet following this so-called mini budget. The markets have reacted expectedly pointedly at a budget that gave massive tax cuts to the most wealthy and asked the poorest to pay for them over generations. He has no plan to show us and wants to silence the organisations that will show him up like the OBR. He needs to, and I think he will, reverse some of these crazy tax cuts like the removal of the additional rate of tax before markets think the Uk is the basket case of Europe again.
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Premium
Suzanne Noble
Co-Director at Startup School for Seniors
Our beneficiaries at Startup School for Seniors, all over 50, are concerned about how they will make ends meet. Many have no safety net, and so the urgency for them to create a secondary or completely new income stream is more important than ever. As a new business funded by the public sector, we wonder how this turbulence in the market will impact spending as local authorities will find themselves in a position of having to support the neediest. There will be many social enterprises that will have to find alternative revenue streams as government budgets shrink.
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
It's like the government are conducting a 12 year long insane experiment on how best to torpedo the British economy. Austerity, Brexit and whatever the heck we call this now.
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David McCreadie
Managing Director at Swi-tch
The belts are tightening significantly for Retail clients that we work with from a recruitment perspective, which indicates a level of concern in the market. The impact that this has on our business is huge, if customers are putting holds on recruitment and not investing in their workforce we need to work incredibly hard to keep business moving forward. The government need to protect start-up businesses who have had the cohones to set up during the most turmoil times we’ve seen. If the government is not investing in these entrepreneurs who will drive growth and support the economy in the future then we will only become ever more reliant on other countries to support us.
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Legend
Dr Jackie Mulligan
Founder at ShopAppy
For businesses like ours and the family businesses we support on British high streets, importing products or using global software, cloud based services, advertising on facebook, buying devices - costs just shot up. Business costs are rocketing making last week's energy support fade into insignificance. Add that to rapidly declining consumer confidence - particularly with the threat of interest rate hikes on people with mortgages on top of rising fuel and product costs - and we have a toxic cocktail for consumer and business confidence. So as an antidote, we are urging people, even though they have less to spend, to support small businesses more than ever to navigate this perfect storm.
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Graham Wells
Founder and Financial Coach at GroWiser Financial Coaching
The government's growth statement means nothing to the majority and most people don't really understand or care about the impact of a weak pound. What matters is the impact of rising interest rates, food and energy costs and how this affects long term living standards. That's the focus for my clients, who are mostly in their 40s and 50s and mindful that retirement is not so far away. Consumer confidence is in freefall due to the uncertainty and people are clamouring to fix mortgage rates before the next, inevitable instalment of financial pain. It's now Trussingly obvious that individuals, couples and small business owners need to face into these challenges and find their own path to financial wellness. The current government has made that message very clear.
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Julia Usher
Managing Director at Ashes Memorial Jewellery
Consumer confidence is at an all time low and the current mood of the country is one of despair and disbelief. The fall in the markets, weakening pound and the threat of another interest rate hike makes me fear for my business even more. My business is very much in the retail luxury goods sector and we have already seen a huge drop in sales of 32% since June. The further lack in confidence is only going to compound poor consumer confidence. The Christmas period we are about to go into is always a vital period for retailers as the festive sales see us through the slow first quarter months of the following year. This year may well break us if the sales don't start to come in soon. I think the government needs to realise that the mini budget that was announced on Friday was nothing short of ridiculous and has further exasperated an already torrid economic climate. They need to back pedal and fast on the shambolic mini budget and actually look at the state of the Country and the apocalyptic situation the UK is facing. Kwasi Kwarteng and the PM need to get there heads out of the fantasy economic clouds. They need to create a realistic and considered budget. A budget that will see the UK out of this crisis and does not involve bankrupting the Country.
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Dorian Payne
Managing Director at Castell Group
Ultimately, the increase in the cost of living and further devaluation in the pound is squeezing more people into poverty. We are seeing a higher demand for affordable housing and the fact is, the country is just not building enough for the current back log and demand, let alone the significant increase which keeps rising !
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Alastair Hoyne
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
It's definitely a huge blow to consumer confidence, which will be further stressed by the policy clashes between Downing Street and the BOE. Since the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is keeping an eye on its 2% inflation target, we're anticipating another hike when they convene on November 3rd, since Gov. Andrew Baily just ruled out any emergency meeting this week. But between today and Kwarteng's fiscal plan announcement on November 23rd, we're expecting further shocks in the economy until there's a clear assurance from the government on how the proposed measures will work and how its funding can be sustained to avert a deep recession.