Accountants’ manifesto focuses on longer term
THE accountants’ body the ICAEW has called for the next Welsh Government to simplify taxes, accelerate the creation of city regions and improve Wales’ transport network.
A manifesto launched by the organisation urges whoever forms the new Government after next year’s Assembly elections to introduce a number of key measures that look beyond “shortterm growth with underlying structural problems, towards sustainable prosperity”.
It is the latest business group to publish such a manifesto ahead of the Assembly elections, with CBI Wales and FSB Wales having already produced theirs in recent weeks.
The ICAEW manifesto calls on the next Welsh Government to:
deliver investment, infrastructure and tax reform;
promote business support and skills;
support the economy through public services;
enhance scrutiny through Welsh constitutional reform.
ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza said: “Wales requires worldclass infrastructure and a competitive tax system that attracts investment from around the world.
“The Welsh Government needs to help Welsh businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity, which is underpinned by a world-class education and vocational system.”
On tax, the manifesto calls on the next Welsh Government to “simplify tax wherever possible, to create more efficient and costeffective systems for the collection of revenue within Wales using current administrative mechanisms”.
It adds that the incoming Government should “develop the Welsh Treasury function to coordinate the transfer of borrowing and increasing tax-raising powers to the Welsh Government.
“This is an essential part of implementing and governing these powers and delivering a competent and efficient structure.”
On borrowing, it says the new administration should “use borrowings effectively and efficiently to deliver capital investment in the infrastructure of Wales, and prioritise improvement to the transport systems to enhance business capability and connectivity.”
And it calls for an acceleration of the Welsh Government’s programme for providing broadband across the whole of the country at speeds to match the major growth areas of the world economy, and resolving the shortfalls in connectivity of the mobile network.
In a section on supporting the economy through public services, the manifesto calls for the implementation of the Williams Report recommendations, to reduce the number of local authorities and ensure a more streamlined approach to deliver essential public services, and a speeding up of the creation of city regions, with “real power to help drive the economies of South West and South East Wales”.
ICAEW Wales director Martin Warren added: “This manifesto is the result of detailed discussions with our members from all parts of the country – individuals who work in major private and public organisations as well as in accountancy practices supporting small businesses in every region of Wales.
“We know from our tracking of business confidence that there is ongoing uncertainty about the Welsh economy, which is why we believe workable ideas for developing our economic base needs to focus on a genuine partnership for growth.
“Growth can only be achieved through structural, financial and other changes including how our public services are managed and how our politicians work.”
The manifesto also calls for business and entrepreneurial skills to be a “core part” of the education framework in Wales, and for a non-political body to provide business and industry expertise to “help inform” the long-term decision making of the Assembly and the Welsh Government.