Business review of 2022: A period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II and political upheaval

It brought chaos at the airports and a change of leadership at Number 10 as Britons worried about the soaring cost of living. It was overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which brought the curtain down on a reign which connected modern Britain with the age of Winston Churchill and ration books.

Many holidaymakers who had dreamed of a foreign break during lockdown found their summer getaway plans in ruins. Major airports such as Heathrow admitted that the punctuality of arriving flights was “very low” and there have been “periods..where service levels have not been acceptable”. At least one holiday firm was not prepared to take these failings lying down.

In July, Jet2 criticised the “inexcusable” airport chaos and said it had been “directly impacted” by the disruption as it laid bare the troubles caused by airports and suppliers being “woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced”.

Jet2 executive chairman Philip Meeson slammed the ground handling suppliers’ “often atrocious customer service, long queues for security search, lack of staff and congestion in baggage handling areas”. Mr Meeson said the consequent airport congestion, together with the frequent lack of onboard catering supplies, contributed to a very much poorer experience at the start and finish of his customers’ holidays than they were entitled to expect.He added: “This difficult return to normal operations has occurred simply because of the lack of planning, preparedness and unwillingness to invest by many airports and associated suppliers.”

Many customers will have applauded Mr Meeson for speaking uncomfortable truths. July also saw the end of Boris Johnson’s Premiership after a number of senior Cabinet figures quit, triggering a leadership election in which Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss emerged as frontrunners in the battle for Number 10. The month also saw temperatures climb above 40C for the first time, with major fire incidents declared in London, Norfolk and Suffolk. Six water companies – Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, South West Water and Welsh Water – implemented or announced hosepipe bans, as part of efforts to tackle the drought.

Consumer champion Martin Lewis warned that soaring energy bills were turning into a “national crisis” on the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic and would put lives at risk. Ofgem later confirmed an 80.06 per cent rise in the energy price cap for around 24 million households in England, Scotland and Wales, sending the average household’s yearly bill from £1,971 to £3,549. Postal workers, rail workers, dock workers and barristers also announced fresh strike action.

In early August, Sir Dave Ramsden, the Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking at the Bank of England delivered sobering words when he visited Leeds. Sir Dave’s message was clear and not a source of comfort.“We are forecasting that the UK economy is going to go into recession from the end of this year, ’’ he told The Yorkshire Post“That’s been driven primarily by these higher energy prices. We’ve seen wholesale gas prices double just since we last published a forecast in May. It’s unprecedented increases.“Households and businesses are experiencing very high inflation at the moment and are going to go on experiencing high inflation, according to our forecasts. But that mustn’t become embedded into their thinking about the economy. It’s really important that doesn’t become the norm.”September began with Liz Truss confirmed as Prime Minister, just days before news emerged that the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II’s life was ebbing away. King Charles acceded to the throne immediately after his mother’s death and the Queen’s coffin was delivered by hearse from Balmoral to Edinburgh, before it was transported to London for the official lying in state and state funeral took place. It was a time for national reflection to mark the end of the second Elizabethan age.

With a new Prime Minister in place, businesses hoped for a period of stability at the heart of Government as they continued to battle rising inflation, supply chain troubles and, in many cases, staff shortages.

It was not to be. At the end of the month, the pound plummeted after the new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century.

The pound fell to a fresh 37-year low, forcing the Bank of England to launch an emergency UK government bond-buying programme to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control, amid fears millions of mortgage holders could face crippling rises in their repayments. However, as the month closed, Liz Truss stood firm. The events of the next few weeks were to prove that her confidence was horribly misplaced.