Tesco’s John Allan to Lead Business Effort to Spur U.K. Recovery
(Bloomberg) -- Tesco Chairman John Allan will spearhead a panel of top U.K. business chiefs who aim to chart a path to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for the U.K. economy, with a focus on jobs.
The outbreak has plunged the U.K. into what may be its deepest recession in 300 years, and jobless claims so far have doubled since the economy went into lockdown in March. While the government has sought to protect as many jobs as possible with its generous furlough program, big-name companies are already laying off thousands of workers.
“This tsunami of job losses is rolling toward us at the moment,” Allan said in an interview. “A lot of those jobs will have gone for good, and we need to do some hard thinking as a country about creating new jobs that will be attractive to both young people coming into the workforce, but also existing people in the workforce who have been displaced and may need to be re-skilled.”
The panel, called the COVID Recovery Commission, plans to examine how coronavirus has affected Prime Minister Boris Johnson's goal of “leveling up” the British economy to spread opportunity more evenly across the country, according to a statement Friday from WPI Strategy, the political and economics consultancy that will act as the commission's secretariat. It aims to generate ideas to create a “stronger and fairer” post-pandemic economy.
“We're not looking for short-term solutions,” said Allan, who served as president of the country's biggest business lobby, the Confederation of British Industry, until last month. “We're looking for long-term proposals that will create sustainable jobs, with a particular focus on being able to create those jobs in the regions that are currently most disadvantaged and likely to suffer disproportionately from the job losses that are going on at the moment and will happen over the next few months.”
Panel Members
Allan will be joined on the by corporate leaders including Babcock International Group Chairman Ruth Cairnie, Vodafone UK Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Nick Jeffery and British Land CEO Chris Grigg. Other panelists include Blenheim Chalcot Management Ltd. founding partner Manoj Badale, Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye and Shell U.K. Chairman Sinead Lynch. Matthew Oakley, a former Treasury, will prepare the group's economic analysis.
They aim to develop policy ideas to improve the U.K.'s flagging productivity, encourage investment and promote innovation, according to the statement.
Allan emphasized the panel is “apolitical” and will listen to all parties when formulating its recommendations. They'll also take contributions from businesses of all sizes.
According to Allan, the aim is to develop detailed proposals by early next year, but a preliminary assessment may be given in September in time for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to consider before delivering a budget in the fall. Sunak welcomed the formation of the panel, alongside Business Secretary Alok Sharma and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove.
“Businesses, large and small, have a critical role to play in creating the jobs and opportunities that will help us recover from this pandemic,” Sunak said in the statement. He thanked the business chiefs “for committing time and energy to help stimulate new thinking as we all push to kick-start economic growth across every part of the country.”
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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