7:27 am, October 25, 2022
Rishi Sunak needs to provide a ‘clear and compelling’ strategy for growth, according to an automotive trade body.
The SMMT has welcomed Sunak’s appointment as the new Prime Minister and congratulated him on his appointment.
But the motor trade body joined other business leaders who have called on him to end recent ‘political and economic uncertainty’.
Sunak will be appointed as the country’s next prime minister by the King today and will then look to build a new Cabinet.
He won the Tory leadership contest without a vote being cast after rivals Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson dropped out, and will replace Liz Truss in No 10 later today.
The handover of power will see Truss, who quit last week after only six weeks in the top job, hold her final Cabinet meeting and give a farewell speech in Downing Street before formally tendering her resignation to the King at Buckingham Palace.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: ‘SMMT congratulates Rishi Sunak on becoming leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister.
‘What we now need is a clear and compelling strategy for growth and stability, one that reassures markets, shores up battered consumer confidence and ensures the UK is seen as investable.
‘As a major investor and employer, the automotive industry can help drive an economic recovery but we sorely need a period of stability and a framework for competitiveness, one that delivers the conditions and regulatory certainty to attract investment, talent and innovation, and not least in the global race to net zero.’
Car dealers appeared positive about his appointment on social media.
Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester tweeted an article about reasons to be cheerful under a Rishi government while former Marshall boss Daksh Gupta tweeted congratulations directly to the new PM.
Markets initially rallied yesterday on news of Sunak’s selection by the Conservative party, but had a rollercoaster day.
Shares on the FTSE 100 initially rose by as much as half a per cent, before falling to nearly 0.8 per cent down.
In the afternoon the FTSE recovered again, closing up 0.64 per cent at 7,013 points.
The pound initially dropped in value against the dollar following the confirmation, before a volatile spell and ultimately finished in the red.
After weeks of chaos following Liz Truss’s mini-budget, and months of uncertainty under her predecessor, businesses need more certainty on energy support and help finding workers and boosting international trade and exports, the British Chambers of Commerce added.
Director general Shevaun Haviland said: ‘The political and economic uncertainty of the past few months has been hugely damaging to British business confidence and must now come to an end.
‘The new prime minister must be a steady hand on the tiller to see the economy through the challenging conditions ahead.
Kate Nicholls, the boss of the UK Hospitality trade body, said ‘stable political leadership is absolutely critical’ and that the body had worked ‘very closely’ with Sunak when he was chancellor.
She added: ‘I would encourage him to extend business rates relief, reform the entire business rates system in the longer term and lower the current rate of VAT.’
Sunak is expected to address the nation just before noon, before entering No 10 as the UK’s first Hindu prime minister, the first of Asian heritage, and the youngest for more than 200 years at the age of 42.
