No more meddling, says IoD chief
THE government shouldn’t “tinker” with the economy anymore in its upcoming budget, according to a leading business figure.
Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors, has said that this time around, a budget that doesn’t introduce new measures, but instead pledges to embed those that have alred been announced, would be most welcome.
He told TheBusinessDesk: “We shouldn’t expect much from this budget and in a funny way I don’t think we want a lot from it. We’d much rather see the government really drive to implement all the things they have started already, in lots of areas – not just in banking.
“What we don’t need is lots of new tinkering with the economy, which won’t have a lot of effect but will be disruptive.”
He added that although the banks should have received help from the government, the IoD does not support the bailout of specific sectors.
“It’s too much picking winners and losers,” Mr Templeman said.
“Why should you help particularly the car sector, even though it is very important, against other businesses?
“We think the idea of the car scrap tax to encourage people to buy, which they have introduced in France and Germany, would be quite a good idea. That type of demand incentive is good but we don’t want any more bailouts on the supply side.
“Banks are different. We might not like them and we might feel they are part of the problem, which undoubtedly they have been, but we need them to lubricate and support the economy and therefore they are dramatically different to any other business.”
Mr Templeman was yesterday speaking at the opening of the IoD’s annual North West conference. He said that the UK could lead the way with new ways of working, adding that employees were much more receptive to pay flexibility and pay freezes in this latest recession.
“If you are not already doing flexible working I strongly advise that you look at it, not just because of the crisis but because it’s a good way of working,” he told a room of business people at the Lowry Hotel.
“But it’s frustrating that we are not seeing the same happen in the public sector.”
