Economy Needs Radical Measures

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have warned that the government needs to take “radical” steps to assist British businesses, and to kick-start the UK economy.

Despite an “encouraging” pick-up in growth in the first quarter of the year, which means the UK will likely dodge another recession, the business lobby group have warned that the country’s economic expansion is still “much too slow”, having predicted that the UK economy will grow by 0.6 percent throughout the year.

As a result of their predictions, the BCC have called for the government to take forceful action to help the economy, with the director general of the group, John Longworth, saying: “The UK economy is still facing huge challenges and the recovery is much too slow.

“The UK has the potential to recover but to achieve that the government has to set businesses free to grow.

“As the public sector’s share of economic activity shrinks over the next few years, forceful measures are needed to make it possible for businesses to drive recovery.”

The group’s predictions come on the back of the OECD’s predictions last week, which suggested the UK had already slipped back into recession following two consecutive months of negative growth; however the group said the government can take measures to assist the growth.

The BCC believe the government needs to take “radical” steps to set businesses free, with the group suggesting the creation of a a state-backed bank to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), along with ramping up its credit easing scheme, scrapping this month’s 5.6 percent hike in business rates, and speeding up the proposed improvements to transport infrastructure.