Comment: Making it their business to lead the recovery

Sir Roger Carr, president of the CBI, last night reminded his members that they have to own up to their failings and begin behaving in a more responsible and transparent way to help get the economy moving.

But his message to the CBI’s annual dinner in London was not simply about a breakdown of trust between business and the public over remuneration rewards and the way in which businesses present themselves. He identified the lack of trust as the “most disturbing” of four truths that businesses must face up to, but he also wants them to earn their way in the world, explore new export markets and help improve the “failing” education system.

This was a call to action, a plea for businesses to be pro-active in tackling some simmering problems that are holding the country back. As such Carr acknowledged that governments cannot solve problems alone and that business has the means to do more if only it shows the inclination to do so.

Solutions will require the co-operation of government and he listed a series of measures that would help kick-start a growth strategy, including some regularly circulated ideas such as infrastructure projects, reducing red tape and clarifying the energy strategy. Business-friendly policies are one thing, he said, but there was a need for “ruthless and urgent” execution.

So, a call to arms, but also a demand for a new partnership with government with business playing a bigger part in the growth agenda.

A business-led recovery may even change the public’s perception of those who rarely get enough credit for creating the country’s wealth.

Driving what good news there is for economy

WHILE dark shadows hang over the UK economy and the markets flirt with meltdown over prospects for the euro, the British car industry has rarely had it so good.

British-built cars are helping drive up exports to a record high and new figures show the UK sold more cars abroad than it imported for the first time in 36 years.

There will be further positive news today when Vauxhall quells fears for the future of its giant plant in Ellesmere Port with new investment creating jobs and an extra production shift.

The investment is a result of some intensive lobbying of parent group General Motors by the UK government. It also owes something to a spirit of co-operation between government, the company and the trade union representatives.

If only it had always been so. The scale and significance of the car manufacturing and components industry is only now being appreciated. Years of working together have allowed the industry to close the book on a past record of poor industrial relations and shoddy products that almost brought it down.

If only the government in particular had worked so hard to retain other strands of a once-great manufacturing centre then Britain might still boast a number of world-beating industries. Shipbuilding and steel were largely abandoned to foreign competition, skills becoming as redundant as the thousands who once toiled in the factories.

Indeed, the ditching of manufacturing in the 1980s in favour of a services-led economy has led us to the current imbalance that the government is now attempting to correct.

Taxing question of takeaway pasties

GOVERNMENTS like to tell us they’re committed to creating the conditions that encourage businesses to invest and grow. Try convincing Ken McMeikan, chief executive of takeaway chain Greggs which intends to open 90 shops this year.

Chancellor George Osborne’s so-called “pasty tax”, which extends VAT to hot takeaway food, has got McMeikan raging and even prompted him to deliver a petition to Downing Street demanding a climbdown.

Osborne is claiming a level playing field with the likes of fish and chip shops but Greggs warns of shop closures and job losses.

A meeting of the two sides at the Treasury today should be a tasty showdown.