Economic rebuild hope not despair

The Editorial Intelligence breakfast debate encompassed a varied panel and a very eclectic audience that produced a fascinating couple of hours and at the end, an almost uplifting feeling. Not to be trifled, in today’s world of gloom upon more gloom.

In a nutshell Xavier Rolet CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group outlined several initiatives they were introducing to stimulate investment and support SMEs. He was in fact impassioned in his cry for more to be done by Governments and business to invest in SMEs. Stating the advantage that the UK has over other European countries with the number of SMEs and the strong potential for growth.

Rolet also targeted the need to cut red tape and excessive regulations that stymy the potential of new companies coming to market. However, he also highlighted that the listing fee for the London Stock Exchange is £5k annually with an additional £145k going on administration. Clearly no small enterprise will list if they are hit with such costs.

The Shadow Minister for Competitiveness & Enterprise, Iain Wright (No relation) stressed the need for Governments to work with Trade Unions and businesses to plan for decades ahead. His view and one I share, is the need for the UK to come together and set a new tone of cooperation where the public sector and the private sector have a joint mission to create wealth and jobs and invest in a sustainable project to increase the economic strength of the nation.

This was all sounding rather positive and the panel did not stop there. Frances Coulson the President of R3 (an insolvency body) announced that there are fewer insolvencies in this recession than in previous ones. She also called for a reduction in red tape and the burden of administration which is a major cause of default.

Coulson also thought that more knowledge and awareness in society, of how to start and run business and how financial markets operated would be beneficial leading to more and better companies being created. Importantly it would start to regain some of society’s confidence in business and finance, so sadly lost in recent years.

Finally an economist from ICAP, Don Smith, gave an appraisal of where we are today and where we are going. Our economy is slower than other G7 Countries but we are inching our way forward. There is doubt that austerity alone will get the country out of debt and with barely 12% of cuts already hit, the immediate future looks grim. However, the point was made that the UK has a chance to restructure for the future.

Guy Fraser-Sampson senior fellow at Cass Business School made a great observation that the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls had said “We are standing on the edge of the abyss and we need to take a major step forward.”   

This was a debate full of content and creativity with people that are forging the future, who connected with the audience to provide a morning of hope rather than the expected despair.