The four months between the election and the Budget have made it difficult for the new government to communicate its direction of travel, and our clients have been looking forward to seeing more meat on the bones after the somewhat mixed messages at Labour Party Conference and the International Investment Summit.

The Chancellor faced a significant communications challenge: to build a more positive narrative of “invest, invest, invest” after weeks of critical coverage of leaked tax plans. This was a “push and pull” Budget, in which Rachel Reeves sought to offset concern with some targeted measures of support.

Amongst the announcements made today, support for the automotive sector, corporation tax stability and Business Rates relief, as well as confirmation of £100bn in capital spending including in infrastructure and energy will be of particular interest to our clients.

The government has spent a lot of its early political capital on raising taxes and, after weeks of economic gloom and drip-fed policies, Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping that businesses and voters are at least beginning to understand what it’s all for.

It will take some time for the dust to settle from today’s Budget and, as ever, the devil will be in the detail. We already knew that there was no rabbit in the hat and have been advising clients that, to have the ear of government, you must demonstrate the ways in which you can help them to achieve their key missions.

On a personal note, it was good to see the Budget delivered by a woman for the first time. Way overdue…

Read the full article that features Grayling’s UK CEO, Heather Blundell here: https://www.prweek.com/article/1894145/national-insurance-rise-will-cost-us-120k-%E2%80%93-budget-glass-half-empty-pr