Chamber News: It's The Economy, Stupid!

The state of the economy and its future direction dominated discussions at the Chamber’s Council Meeting.

Chamber President Martin Douglas OBE opened the meeting with an overview of the economic situation in Greater Manchester. Chief Economist, Dr Brian Sloan, then outlined the results of the Chamber’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey, which received a record-breaking 854 responses this quarter.

Brian explained that the survey showed increased confidence and continued growth in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Once again, he said, exports were supporting most of the growth in Greater Manchester, with those businesses trading overseas more confident than those operating solely in the domestic market.

He said that the Eurozone crisis did not appear to be having the downward impact on overseas demand that was seen in the latter half of 2011. And that the weakness of the Euro did not seem to have affected the demand for exports.

Brian’s presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session. Topics discussed included rebalancing the economy, the difficulty of getting finance from the banks and the effect on the economy of negative media coverage.

After the Q&A, Ed Cox, Director of IPPR, talked about the Northern Economic Futures Commission’s Interim Report. He outlined the issues the North needed to overcome to realise its full potential.

He said: “There is huge potential for growth in the North. Everyone in society is affected by inequality, even if you’re rich. The whole country is, therefore, affected by the North not growing to its full potential.

“The North faces structural problems and is still making the transition following deindustrialisation. There needs to be disproportionate investment in the North so it can overcome these structural difficulties and become economically self-sufficient.”

He added that these structural problems were compounded by the “incredible policy bias” towards the South of England, which was a result of the North/South political divide.

Ed finished by setting out what the Northern economy needed to reach its full potential, including a co-ordinated transport network and the development of a Northern investment bank.

The meeting concluded with an update on the Chamber’s Action For Business work by Policy Director, Chris Fletcher. He outlined the key areas the Chamber’s Policy Team had been working on including high-speed broadband, Air Passenger Duty and Engineering and Manufacturing.

He also appealed for members to provide feedback on road traffic problems in their local areas, so the Chamber could identify the “pinch points” that are causing congestion across Greater Manchester.