New business secretary Peter Kyle admits ‘we need to do better’
Business Secretary Peter Kyle has said he accepts the Labour government needs to do better for Britain in a new interview.
The Labour government has ben under intense pressure due to a downturn in business confidence and a series of political scandals.
“We accept that we need Britain to feel the benefits of our changes in their pockets… We accept that we need to do better,” Kyle, who has been in the post for mere days after a significant reshuffle prompted by Angela Rayner’s resignation, told Laura Kuessenberg on the BBC.
However, Kyle maintained that the government is “delivering… We are turning a corner.”
“We are ending the mess that we inherited when it comes to immigration and a broken economy and public services that are on their knees,” he said, adding that Starmer “has raised the standard of public life”.
Despite a positive start to their relationship with the Labour Government, businesses are worried about high employment taxes and other costs hampering businesses.
Bosses are holding out for this year’s Autumn Budget as they hope Rachel Reeves will not inflict damaging tax rises on companies and squeeze profit margins.
The Chancellor is expected to raise at least £20bn in taxes to fill a hole in the public purse, with the option of raising up to £50bn not being ruled out.
Meanwhile, there has been an “alarming” drop in UK consumer confidence over the last year.
Confidence in the future economy declined sharply last autumn and was particularly low between February to May, when global events such as the US tariff policy contributed to the pessimism.
Confidence had recovered a little since, but remained considerably lower than 12 months ago.
In the month to July, an estimated 2.1m households missed at least one essential payment such as rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, credit card or loan payments.
An estimated 13.9m households (49 per cent) also made at least one adjustment to cover essential spending such as utility bills, housing costs, groceries, school supplies and medicines in the last month – such as cutting back on essentials, dipping into savings, selling possessions or borrowing.