Maybe Mr Osborne should read this.
"Hello, world. Britain has dared to dream and is open for business
article by rohan silva
Three swift confidence-boosting measures will convince people at home and investors abroad that we have a dynamic future
The “leave” campaign’s slogan was “take control”. Well, now we truly are in control. I don’t mean that in the narrow sense of taking control of certain policy areas from the EU. I mean that we’re in charge of our own fate as a country. The choice we make about how we react to Thursday’s momentous vote will affect the lives of everyone in Britain, and we have to get it right.
If we perpetuate the negativity and scaremongering of much of the campaign, there’s a very good chance we’ll turn the warnings of Project Fear into a self-fulfilling prophesy. As Franklin D Roosevelt put it: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
On the other hand, if we come together behind a positive new agenda — in particular for the economy — we can make a reality of the optimistic vision of Britain outside the EU put forward by some “leave” campaigners.
If we pull together, we can make a strong statement about our resolve to look forward, not back
Let me be clear: I was firmly in the “remain” camp. I believed that while the EU is grotesquely flawed in many ways, the potential economic shock of leaving was simply not worth it. But now that the vote has gone the other way, there’s only one thing that matters: avoiding that potential shock, and if we can, engineering a lasting economic boost.
The key to that is confidence. Building confidence in Britain’s economic prospects outside the EU is the single most important thing we now need to do. For the next few weeks, the eyes of the world will be on us. People will be trying to understand why we voted the way we did, and wondering what it means for them. In particular, global investors will be weighing up their options: should they put planned investments on hold? Take their money out? Or perhaps even put more cash in?
The immediate reaction of many — including here in Britain — to the decision to leave the EU was to see it as us turning our backs on the world. However, if the international business community starts to hear that Britain will continue to be an open, dynamic, trading economy — and in fact we actually want to be more open and dynamic than before — then we can make that the reality.
Here’s how. Before I became an entrepreneur, I was a policy adviser to the prime minister, working across all areas of policy. Every year, I would draft a note from No 10 to the Treasury before the budget and autumn statement, outlining proposals to move the economy forward. It’s how I was able to push through policies to create the world’s most generous tax breaks for early-stage investment, as well as entrepreneur relief and other measures to help small businesses flourish.
Were I still working at Downing Street, here’s the submission I would make today, at this critical moment in our economic life. It’s a bold, positive agenda designed to boost confidence in Britain. Not so much a “punishment budget” as a “power-ahead budget”.
First, to boost global investor confidence, we should cut corporation tax to a worldwide low of 10%. At a stroke, this would make every global chief executive sit up and take notice. “Wow — shouldn’t we relocate to Britain?” they would ask. The answer is yes. Reducing our corporation tax rate to that level would instantly make the UK a top choice for business location, bringing jobs and investment in its wake.
Second, to boost small business confidence and resilience, we should take immediate action to cut business rates. Unlike corporation tax, which is paid only on profits, firms pay business rates whether they make money or not. They can be a massive factor in small companies such as high street shops having to shut when times are tough, and it’s a deeply regressive policy. We should make dramatic cuts to small business rates and compensate councils for the shortfall in revenue.
And finally, to boost public confidence, we should act quickly to deliver reform in one of the most high-profile areas of the referendum campaign: immigration. This would show citizens that their votes really do make a difference, going some way towards restoring faith in the political process. But it would also directly help our economic prospects if we made it easier for people who can make a contribution to our economy — for example, entrepreneurs or graduates from the world’s top 50 universities — to come and work here.
Part of this would be the new Australian-style points system we are promised, which ought to be outlined within the next 10 days. But we can also transform the efficiency of our immigration system, using modern technology such as data analytics and machine learning to make the process radically cheaper and faster. If we do that, there’s no reason why visa decisions couldn’t be made within 24 hours and at a fraction of the cost, so helping fast-growing British businesses recruit the talent they need to succeed globally.
These are all steps that the government could take quickly, and that would make our country an even better place to do business, as well as send an unmistakable signal to the world about the kind of country that the newly independent Britain wants to be.
If we pull together like this, we can make a strong and positive statement about our collective resolve to look forward, not back. And, most important of all, we can let the world know that Britain will never stop being entrepreneurial, never stop facing outwards and never stop inventing, making and trading.
So whichever way you voted in the referendum, it’s worth bearing in mind these beautiful words attributed to Johann Wolfgang Goethe: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” This is certainly a brave new world, but as long as we continue to dream and dare to be bold, Britain has the brightest possible future ahead.
