HTA update following the government's budget announcement

Following the government’s budget last week, which we know is going to have a significant impact on almost all our members’ businesses, I wanted to let you know what the HTA has been doing on your behalf to highlight the potential damage these measures could have on this industry and to ask for your continued communication about the impacts on your business. Our priority now is to ensure that the real impact (and potentially unforeseen consequences) of this budget are understood by government and to work to try and achieve mitigations wherever possible. The HTA’s briefing is available here and reliefs reform detail here.

Firstly, our lobbying work in Westminster (and the devolved assemblies) continues at a pace and yesterday we held an event in the Westminster Parliamentary Estate which was attended by 60 peers and MPs. All were hugely supportive of our sector and have walked away committed to championing environmental horticulture with clear asks from us to raise our specific budget challenges at every opportunity. This political support is invaluable and the HTA members at the event were able to give real life examples of the severe impact that the change in Inheritance Tax rules, National Insurance Contributions and the increase in the National Living Wage will have on their own businesses and the wider industry. 

Secondly, we urge you to contact your own MP to highlight the impact of the budget on your business. If you need any support with arranging a meeting or writing a letter, then please email [email protected] and we would be happy to help. We have drafted a template letter you may want to use as a starting point. If you do send an email or a letter, please copy us in so we can assist with follow-up and further actions.

Thirdly, please continue to contact us directly at [email protected] to tell us the impact on your business and any future considerations you are now debating. These case studies are exceptionally powerful to us in our lobbying work. We can anonymise this information if you require it.

Fourthly, we will be sending out a questionnaire to all members at the start of next week regarding the impacts of the budget on your business. This information will be really important for us in our lobbying. This will be sent to our main member contact in your business so please do look out for it and prioritise completing it to get it back to us as soon as possible. The survey and its results will be used along with us releasing new Oxford Economics figures on the industry’s economic footprint at the Houses of Parliament later in the month; we’ll be using that to demonstrate the industry’s potential (and how this is jeopardised by the budget) and to make the case for progress on asks around borders, investment in grants etc which are also critical to the industry’s future.

Fifthly, we are setting up online webinars with experts to help you navigate the impacts of the budget announcements. Please look out for dates in Member Update. 

And finally, we are in conversation with wider organisations representing allied industries, SMEs and family businesses with a view to wider joined up lobbying. We will keep you posted on this.