Responding to the Chancellor’s emergency statement, which reversed many of the proposals set out in his predecessor’s mini-budget, Kitty Ussher, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors, said: 

“It is of course right for the government to focus on restoring stability and confidence – without that growth is impossible. As our members have told us, the number one negative issue for their businesses at the moment is ‘UK economic conditions’. Confidence is also extremely low, which in turn causes businesses to invest less, constraining growth further.

“Having said that, we are relieved that the employers’ national insurance reversal will proceed, since our members have consistently told us it only added to the supply-side pressures they were experiencing, which is why we had campaigned hard for it to be reversed over the last year. Given the difficult investment climate, it is also sensible to maintain the Annual Investment Allowance at the higher figure of £1m.”

The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, registered a value of -43 for the month of September.

When asked in September which factors are having a negative impact on their organisation, the most popular answer was ‘UK economic conditions’ (55%).