Business News Round Up (11/09/2025)
IOD: Budget Board must focus on easing the cost of doing business
Responding to the announcement of the creation of a Budget Board to boost economic growth, Anna Leach, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “We are glad to see the government putting renewed energy into the growth agenda with a particular focus on business. It is positive that the government has announced the creation of this body, bringing together teams across Number 10 and the Treasury, focussed on ensuring that the Autumn Budget delivers vitality to the economy. Business confidence has fallen to historically low levels since last year’s Budget. Our own economic confidence index fell to its lowest ever level in July this year, with taxes and the wider economic climate dominating concerns amongst business leaders. To be successful, this board needs to deliver a Budget that really works for business, with swift action to remove barriers to growth from the regulatory and tax system.”
Reeves vows to ‘take out’ more regulators amid growth push
Rachel Reeves has said she wants to “take out more regulators” to slash the red tape the chancellor warned was hampering the government’s efforts to boost UK economic growth. Reeves told an audience of private equity professionals on Wednesday that she wanted to make it easier for businesses to build and grow in the UK and renewed her attack on regulators. The chancellor and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have blamed excessive bureaucracy and regulation for holding back the economic growth that they are desperate to encourage. “I want to take out more regulators; we have still got too many”, Reeves said at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) summit. She said the government had already acted by “getting rid of the chair of the CMA”, referring to the ousting of Marcus Bokkerink as chair of the Competition and Markets Authority regulator in January.
https://www.ft.com/content/e79e320b-16fa-4403-8cec-204309382845
Circular sectors ‘contributing 7bn’ to Scotland’s economy
A new report by Zero Waste Scotland suggests circular sectors contributed an estimated GVA (Gross Value Added) of £7.11billion to Scotland’s economy in 2021. The report also found that circular sectors accounted for 81,447 jobs and represented nearly 5% (4.7%) of total Scottish GVA. GVA is the value that producers have added to the goods and services they have bought. As a share of GDP, circular economy GVA made up 3.9% of Scottish GDP – including offshore oil and gas extraction in Scottish waters. Commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland and delivered by Eunomia and University College London (UCL), the ‘State of the Circular Economy’ report quantifies the economic contribution of circular economy sectors using an approach based on the European Circular Economy Monitoring Framework (ECEMF) methodology.
SNIB’s investment record defended as firms fail
Senior civil servants have defended the investment record of the Scottish National Investment Bank as MSPs heard that taxpayer funds invested in failed companies could be written off. Three officials overseeing the bank’s performance were quizzed over the bank’s performance, pay and governance when they appeared before the public audit committee. Following SNIB’s recently reported £77m of unrealised losses, MSPs heard these could include £4.6m on satellite technology firm Krucial which went bust in June. Daily Business reported earlier this month that Scottish Enterprise also stood to lose an investment in an unidentified company which now appears to be Krucial. When asked, SE declined to confirm the name of the company. The potential loss, which could total more than £20.2m in loans and other investments, was mentioned in SE’s annual report in addition to £31.5 million written off by the agency in other investments in the 2024/25 financial year.