Five steps in five weeks to save thousands of jobs in North – Carolyn Fairbairn

CBI Director General Dame Carolyn Fairbairn gave a speech to the CBI’s Northern Business Summit – a joint meeting of the CBI’s three regional business councils spanning the North of England. This is an edited version.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak during a weekend visit to Barkers department store in Northallerton.Chancellor Rishi Sunak during a weekend visit to Barkers department store in Northallerton.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak during a weekend visit to Barkers department store in Northallerton.

IN the heat of Covid-19 crisis, we fought hard for a rescue package – to protect jobs, and keep businesses afloat – and the Government listened.

£33bn lent in loans, and nine million people supported on furlough. One of the most ambitious rescue packages in the world.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It wasn’t perfect – we pushed hard
for ‘large CBILs’ to support midsize
firms (the ‘stranded middle’) – and it
has taken time to crack flexible furloughing.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is director general of the CBI.Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is director general of the CBI.
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is director general of the CBI.

But I have to say – in my entire career, I have never known a government so responsive to business. The teams at BEIS (Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), the Treasury, and Rishi Sunak in particular deserve enormous credit.

And none of it possible without you, our members.

Which brings me to the big challenge Northern businesses, and local authorities, now face.

A double challenge, in fact.

Rishi Sunak talks to shoppers in Northallerton, part of his Richmond constituency.Rishi Sunak talks to shoppers in Northallerton, part of his Richmond constituency.
Rishi Sunak talks to shoppers in Northallerton, part of his Richmond constituency.

Because not only must the North be central to our economic recovery.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

We must also confront the historic under-investment, and the productivity gap that put our regions on the backfoot in the first place.

Making sure that the next step
 isn’t just rebuilding the world we
came from – but about building back better.

Healing entrenched divisions – across age, gender, race, socio-economic background.

Tackling, head on, the inequalities
 that still blight so many people’s
 lives.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And creating opportunities – not just in our major cities, but in every corner of the UK.

Businesses are now in a race against time.

We urgently need the Government to take five steps in the next five weeks, if we are to save jobs now – and prevent permanent scarring on young people’s lives.

First, a strong, open partnership – built between government, business, unions, and health experts – and committed to honest, transparent and constructive debate.

This must begin now, with risk assessed, transparent decisions on schools, quarantine and sensible social distancing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Second, a jobs plan. Starting by protecting as many existing jobs as possible, by evolving the furlough scheme, and using the Apprenticeship Levy for sensible, targeted wage 
subsidies.

But we also know that some redundancies will be unavoidable – many are already happening.

So we will be calling on the Government to launch a ‘future jobs’ fund – starting in September, offering six to 12 months of paid training, with businesses as sponsor employers – and transforming Job Centres into regional Skills Centres. Where people don’t just look for work, they are trained for it.

Third is targeted financial support, 
for sectors hardest hit by social distancing where loans aren’t enough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Concert venues, sports stadiums, airports. They simply won’t be at full capacity any time soon. We need big, ambitious ideas for those who most need it.

The fourth step is a national wave of infrastructure investment. Supercharged, shovel-ready, sustainable projects. HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, rolling out electric vehicle charging across the North.

The fifth and final step is perhaps 
the most challenging: progress towards an ambitious Brexit deal. A good
deal with the EU, our closest trading partner, will be a cornerstone of our recovery.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is director-general
 of the CBI.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.