Member Article

Election 2015: Kent businesses have their say

With just 22 days to go until the General Election, Bdaily has been contacting businesses across the South East to comment on policies, parties and general politics ahead of the biggest date in the economic calendar.

In the 2010 General Election, the Conservative Party reigned supreme across Kent as it managed to win every single seat in the region. In Dartford, Gareth Johnson celebrated a sweeping victory of the former Labour seat. However, support for UKIP has continued to grow in the South East over the last five years, as it celebrated a symbolic victory in the 2013 Kent County Council Election, coming in second to the Conservative and winning 17 seats.

This year’s election is bound to be an exciting one in Kent, as the UKIP tussle for power in a traditionally all-blue region. Here’s what Kent businesses had to say:

Darren Rigden, Partner at Crowe Clark Whitehill, Kent’s only national audit, tax and advisory firm offering a local, national and international coordinated service from offices in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, said: “The General Election will inevitably create a degree of uncertainty for businesses.

“Although they will continue as usual in most respects during this period, businesses are likely to delay significant investment and strategic decisions until after the Election when there will be greater clarity on business and tax related issues. With recent polls suggesting that a coalition government is the most likely outcome, a period of uncertainty is likely to continue long after the election.”

Richard Hiblen, Director of Green Square, a UK leading renewable energy company, which has this year welcome its first two franchisees to the business in Kelso and Tunbridge Wells believes environmental issues are at the heart of this year’s Election, he said: “Some of the environmental pledges being made by the main political players are certainly enticing and appear very positive in theory.

“With more and more homeowners transferring to renewable energy, it’s undoubtedly an increasingly pressing issue for voters. Last year we welcomed the government Renewable Heating Incentive scheme which is certainly a move in the right direction, however with just 25,000 households taking advantage of this so far and only 15% of Britain’s power generated by renewable sources, we still have a long way to go.”

Mark Lloyd, managing director of Faversham-based charity Avante Care & Support, said: “This election as with every other finds the issues of NHS funding centre stage with commitments made by both major parties to increase spending. The truth is that the major political story which does always get talked about apart from in terms of hospital ‘bed blocking’ is the aging society we live in and consequences for social care funding to meet this increasing demand. Since the last election another one million people have reached the age of 65 and the most startling fact as shown recently by the King’s Fund is that in real terms there has been a 20% cut in social care funding over the last decade as the baby-boom generation have reached retirement.

“Funding for social care is becoming a complex and difficult subject for families seeking a registered care home with a new Care Act promoting state support for care costs from 2016. How this is accessed and how good care is found will become increasingly difficult within a social care market seeing a record number of home closures due to the lack of funding and challenges around quality as highlighted by the regulator CQC.

“Austerity measures are seeing the continued significant reductions in local authority budgets at the exact time demand for social care due to old age is expanding. A similar story can be found with home care into people’s homes the topic of zero hours contracts is high in the media attention with talk of this figure going above £8 an hour which sounds excellent until you understand the lack of funding in the system to actually allow employers to pay this wage.

“So whatever the outcome on the 7th May the new Government will face major challenges in addressing the social care agenda of rising demand, more complex needs, and lack of funding. Never before has the imperative to look at integration between our NHS and social care services been more important if we are to stop some of the emotive headlines around hospital ‘bed blocking’.”

Crispin Beale, CEO of Kent-based market research agency, Facts International, commented: “This study highlights that the political dynamics in Kent are changing. Perceptions of who has the ability to manage the region’s economy, immigration policies, and the NHS will play a key role in influencing Kent’s voters and ultimately, will rest on perceptions of who will be the best person for the job. These results highlight that this election will be one of the most closely run for years and that the people of Kent will play a key role in its outcome”.

• The Conservatives are the clear leaders in Kent with 39% of likely voters saying they intended to support the party.
• However, that is ten points lower than 2010 – this could be due to the increase in support for Ukip.
• One in four (24%) likely voters planning to back Ukip on May 7.
• For Labour, 22% say they will back them in 2015 – a similar figure to 5 years ago.
• The Liberal Democrats saw their rating fall by 12% to 6% when compared with 2010.
• The Green Party has seen its support double to 8% since 2010. More than one in five voters in Kent have yet to decide who to support in the general election.
• The most important issue for Kent voters is the economy, followed by the NHS and immigration. Only around one in four voters (24%) saw immigration as most important compared to the economy (30%) and the NHS (25%).
• More than a third of Ukip voters - 36% - trust the Conservatives most to manage the economy.
• Ukip are considered most trusted to deal with immigration - with one in four Conservative and Labour voters not trusting their own party to deal with the issue.
• When it came to the question of who would make the best Prime Minister, David Cameron was ahead and drew support from voters backing other parties.
• More than half - 51% - said he was the best person for the job, nearly three times as many as consider Ed Miliband the best. He gained just 18%.
• Twice as many people (13%) thought that Ukip leader Nigel Farage would make a better PM than Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg at just 5%.
• Among those supporting Mr Cameron as PM were more than a third who intend to vote for the Liberal Democrats and one in four Ukip supporters.

Next week, we will be asking Sussex businesses to comment on the upcoming election. Send any comments along to ellen.forster@bdaily.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .