Industry issues subdued response to pre-Brexit budget

The 2018 Budget drew a mixed response from organisations across the engineering, science and manufacturing sectors. The final formal Budget speech before the Brexit deadline of 31 March 2019 – although Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond did pave the way for a further announcement next spring – the announcements were unlikely to please everybody, but while there was cautious optimism from some, others declared themselves “bitterly disappointed” that Hammond had not heeded their requests.

While the mainstream media concentrated on Hammond’s claim that this Budget marked the point  where “austerity was coming to an end”, industry, as usual, had to dig a little deeper into the fine print and the “red book” that summarises the Treasury’s policies for this announcement.

Measures included £420m fund to fix potholes and other minor roadworks: the Automobile Association had asked for a £1bn commitment. For infrastructure Hammond pledged £30bn to improve roads, including £25.3bn for the major roads network. Following the collapse of construction group Carillion earlier this year, the government announced that new infrastructure and public building projects will no longer be funded by the private finance initiative, and PFI’s successor, PF2, will also be scrapped. The plastics industry is mulling the announcement of a new tax on non-recycled plastic packaging, penalising materials containing less than 30 per cent recycled plastic.