The long awaited autumn statement has arrived. After what could be called an ‘Eventful’ year it is very interesting to see how the government will look to tackle the future obstacles brought about by Brexit. The government has promised a few things such as ‘Building an Economy for all’, ‘Investing in infrastructure and innovation to improve long-term productivity’ and ‘Providing Certainty for Business’.
Building an Economy for all
The government has done a few things which will impact the Freight Industry:
• Fuel duty will remain frozen for the seventh year. This is estimated to save £130 for drivers. This is great news for everyone! This will especially benefit everyone our freight industry since the price of fuel has a heavy impact on us. This makes it easier for our prices on our European Freight services
• The government have increased the national living wage those aged 25 and over will increase from £7.20 per hour to £7.50 per hour. That means over £1,400 a year more for a full-time worker previously on the National Minimum Wage. I think everyone supports this especially here at Espace. However it will increase the cost of all businesses which could lead to an increase in inflation.
Investing in infrastructure and innovation to improve long-term productivity
£23 billion of additional spending has been provided to invest in the infrastructure and long-term productivity. Where will this money be spent?
£390 million will be going future transport technology. This will help with the development of driverless cars, implementation of electric cars and hydrogen busses. The implementation of electric cars brings the reality of electric trucks ever closer which would help the freight industry cut emissions significantly.
Major New Investment in Transport Infrastructure As part of the National Productivity Investment Fund, this will cover:
• £1.1 billion to reduce congestion and upgrade local roads and public transport
• £220 million to tackle road safety and congestion on Highways England roads
• £27 million to develop an expressway connecting Oxford and Cambridge
This investment will hopefully have a major impact on congestion of roads which will allow our freight transport to run more efficiently.
Providing certainty for businesses
The government want to make the UK a place where businesses want to come to. They think the best way to do this is by cutting corporate tax from 20% to 17%. This will benefit over 1 million businesses including many in the freight industry.
Just mentioning a few things from the statement you can see that the aim of the conservatives it to make this country really a place for business to come and set up. From a Freight Forwarders perspective the investment of £1.1 billion to reduce congestion seems to be the most appealing in the statement since it will allow us to run our services more efficiently and reduce any delays which could occur.
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