Devolution

Big news this month. The government announced quite unexpectedly in early December that the elections for Mayor in Essex and other places, including Norfolk and Suffolk in our region, would be delayed for two years i.e. until the Spring of 2028.

This is disappointing, as the sooner we can get a Mayoral Strategic Authority set up in Essex and working with an elected Mayor the better. It is not entirely clear why the government has taken the decision to postpone. There is a certain logic to not having a Mayoral election before local government reorganisation has taken place (due to be done by 2028) but this timetable was already known, indeed was set by government. People will therefore speculate about the motives for deciding to delay.

However, in a sense it’s business as usual for the Chambers and local authority partners as we aim to develop an economic strategy (still so far as we know to be called a Plan for Growth). All the pre-Mayor preparation and planning can go ahead but the full package of resources that will come with the appointment of a Mayor won’t be in place (we expect some funding will come from government though).

The Greater Essex Business Board (GEBB) will continue to meet and advocate for an economic strategy that takes on board business interests and priorities. The GEBB has developed a Manifesto for Growth which will be launched publicy in the New Year and will be the key document used to spread business influence within Essex, and potentially beyond. Our understanding is that regardless of the delay to the mayoral elections the machinery for a strategic authority will still be set up; we just need to wait longer for a Mayor.  

Employment Rights Bill (ERB)

This has just become law, having cleared the final hurdle in House of Lords. Business organisations were opposed in particular to the introduction of day one rights against unfair dismissal for employees and this has been removed and replaced with a six-month period (reduced from the current two years).

Erasmus+ 

There is also news that the UK is to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ programme from 2027. The British Chambers of Commerce has been campaigning for this as something that will benefit businesses, allowing them to maximise its full benefits for training, apprenticeships, skills, further and higher education, and exchanges. We will return to this too in greater depth later.

On both ERB and Erasmus+ we could put on some webinars to better inform members, once we have more detail about implementation and how businesses will be affected. Please do let us know if you might be interested.