\t\t\t\t\t\tEmail\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Email\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2222623381-e1751899894914.jpg\")
\t\tStarmer has established a budget board to fix business relations and improve economy\t<\/p>\n
Business confidence is at a three-year low and productivity has not improved for 15 years. It is businesses that policymakers must turn to \u2013 and fast \u2013 to get growth back on track,<\/strong>\u00a0writes ICAEW chief executive Alan Vallance<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n Whatever your political leanings, we can all agree that the UK faces a challenging economic context. Weak global demand, persistent inflation and high borrowing costs are squeezing households and businesses alike. Productivity \u2013 the biggest driver of higher output and rising living standards \u2013 hasn\u2019t improved for 15 years. With public finances under huge pressure, none of the options open to the Chancellor in November\u2019s Budget are particularly palatable; it is obvious that the government faces tough choices about where and how to prioritise limited resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n The key to unlocking this challenge is growth. Government and business are united on this. Yet while ministers rightly talk about the need for a growing economy and how it is the government\u2019s central objective, the reality is that on a daily basis businesses are finding the prospects for growth really tough.\u00a0<\/p>\n At ICAEW<\/a>, we see this better than anyone. Our 170,000 members don\u2019t just understand the economy \u2013 they shape it: 84 per cent of FTSE 100 boards have an ICAEW member at the table; 3m businesses across the UK are advised by our members every day \u2013 from the smallest start-ups to our largest global firms. And I see great examples every day of fantastic British companies \u2013 providing excellent goods and services to their customers, providing jobs in every community, selling British excellence around the world and innovating better than any other economy on earth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n However, firms across the country contend with rising costs, skills shortages and too much red tape. These challenges make it far harder to plan for the future or to invest with confidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Business confidence at a three-year low<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n For two decades, our Business Confidence Monitor<\/a> has tracked business sentiment<\/a>. The message from our most recent survey was stark: confidence is at a three-year low. In London, business confidence declined for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q2 2025 \u2013 more than any other region \u2013 slumping into negative territory for the first time in two years. April\u2019s rise in employer\u2019s National Insurance Contributions has been a major concern for businesses in the capital, with the proportion of firms citing the tax burden as a growing challenge, reaching a survey-record high of 57 per cent in Q2 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is much to be confident about the opportunities for UK businesses and their strengths to meet those opportunities. We can be in the top tier of world economies in the 21st century with growing living standards. But you would have to be an ostrich not to recognise the lack of confidence throughout businesses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The confidence reading is a stark reminder of the perilous situation facing businesses, who cannot be the cornerstone of growth without an environment that enables them to thrive; prosperity will remain a pipe dream and further pain is inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Put simply, for too long it has been too difficult, too expensive and too uncertain to do business in Britain.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n