What does the budget mean for the UK’s health, life science and net zero ambitions?
With Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiling his 2023 Spring Budget on Thursday, Public Policy Projects outlines what it means for health, life science and net zero.
This year’s spring budget offered the government an opportunity to set out its plans to navigate the current social and economic turmoil in the UK. The war in Ukraine, problematic inflation and interest rate rises, escalating energy and food costs, and the Truss government’s failed economic experiment are all having their rippling effects. The impacts of these multifaceted set of challenges are felt by all to different degrees but are readily visible in the protracted industrial action across multiple sectors, as well as in the increased demand for social sector assistance.
Calming this environment and giving businesses the confidence to invest requires a varied and comprehensive set of fiscal and policy responses, and unfortunately, Jeremy Hunt’s statement provides only some of these reassurances. The government will need to do much more to keep key specialists and sector leaders in-place to carry out the research and development that the UK needs to advance its reputation as a place for health, life science and net zero industries.