{"id":958493,"date":"2026-05-14T04:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958493\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T04:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:14:32","slug":"kings-speech-welcome-action-but-gaps-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958493\/","title":{"rendered":"King\u2019s Speech:\u202fWelcome Action But Gaps Remain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Responding to today\u2019s King\u2019s Speech,\u202fShevaun Haviland CBE, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s King\u2019s Speech had some positives for business with action to tackle late payments, simplify trade with the EU and strengthen apprenticeships.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese steps can make a real difference to cashflow and confidence on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there are also significant gaps where the Government has not gone far enough. Businesses will be disappointed to see no clear progress on reforming business rates, which remain a major cost burden for firms across the UK.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the Middle East conflict ratcheting up cost pressures, this was a critical opportunity to deliver meaningful change and give companies the certainty they urgently need.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile measures on simplifying regulation and resilience are encouraging, firms need to see faster progress on grid reform, infrastructure and planning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrucially, although there was a great deal of emphasis on the UK\u2019s economic security there was little detail on strengthening our supply chains. In an increasingly volatile global environment, this must be a priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIncreasing the UK\u2019s productivity is also a conundrum the government has yet to fully address, so any further changes to apprenticeships and skills must put employers\u2019 needs at their heart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBusinesses want to work in partnership with Government to deliver growth. That means meaningful consultation, clear policy direction, and a relentless focus on reducing costs, boosting investment and improving competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sooner we see that translated into action, the better the prospects for firms and the wider economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Responding to today\u2019s King\u2019s Speech,\u202fShevaun Haviland CBE, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: \u201cToday\u2019s King\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-958493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116570991701331697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}