Derry Chamber President expresses disappointment to Chancellor's Autumn Statement

Chamber President Selina Horshi says it is disappointing that Northern Ireland will not see the full benefit of measures outlined by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt following the publication of the Autumn Statement due to a lack of decision-making taking place in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the measures announced, Selina Horshi said: “The Chancellor’s Statement published today gives little comfort to businesses operating in Northern Ireland who have now been without an Executive or Assembly and local decision-making for almost two years.

“Our economy is stagnating and there are little incentives we can see that will address that. The increase in minimum wage will be a challenge for many businesses to meet, but the hope is that this increase and the cut in National Insurance contributions will mean more money in people’s pockets which is a good thing for spending.

“The freeze on alcohol duty until next August will be welcome to those businesses in our tourism and hospitality sector, however it is disappointing that Northern Ireland will not see the benefit of measures such as the spend on apprenticeships which would help employers across multiple sectors address our growing skills gap.

“The big worry for us again is the total lack of decision-making taking place in Northern Ireland because of the political vacuum that is now approaching two years.

“We have already seen this week the news that Northern Ireland was left out of the latest round of levelling up funding and we have a huge gap in our public finances that must be repaid.

“The time is now to restore devolution and get local decision making back to Northern Ireland.”