Clive Owen LLP

Confidence, and the struggles of the hospitality sector dominated the thoughts of the Yorkshire Shadow MPC as members voted unanimously to hold interest rates at the current 0.1%.

The MPC is a partnership between Clive Owen LLP and the York Press, which considers the state of the region’s economy and gives experts from a variety of sectors the opportunity to argue their case for a shift, or hold, in the rate.

Rob Whitehead, of Clive Owen LLP, said: “The general overview is most businesses and sectors are doing quite well and are quite buoyant. We've got clients in the leisure industry that have done very well this year, but obviously still some uncertainty. And this latest working from home directive is going to impact that as is people cancelling Christmas parties.”

Gary Smith, of Tilney, said: “In the industry I work in we are a good barometer of when the economy is either doing very well or in the start of a recession. It remains very busy, businesses that we deal with remain heavy with cash, pension funding continues, people still looking to invest.

“Omicron is the biggest challenge, because unless the Chancellor announces a support package, with Christmas parties getting cancelled who's going to support the hospitality sector, there's no furlough scheme, that's my biggest concern in the short term.”

Delroy Beverley, regional chairman of IOD, said: “I think I would consider that we're going through a new phase with this Omicron and all of the challenges that that brings, but certainly from the businesses that I speak to, that upturn that they were recently enjoying, there's a little bit of nervousness in terms of a potential lockdown and a further phase of sort of Covid and Omicron.”

Charlene Lyons, chief executive of Black Sheep Brewery, said: “We work in hospitality and we're seeing many economic challenges. We've got the challenge around just day-to-day retail, cancelled bookings. The new variant has proven to be problematic as you would imagine and, not only that we've got the day-to-day challenges around cost increases, inflationary pressures, overheads, lack of support. So, it's a real struggle for people in our industry.”

Chris Greenall, director at PIB Insurance, said: “Within the pandemic there are winners and losers, and business is thriving however, I echo the sentiments about the issued being faced by the hospitality sector and it's absolutely critical that we get some sort of, grants or funding to them. Other areas are doing really well, the care home sector and construction, doing exceptionally retail is going okay, so we do see winners and losers in all of this.”

Kerry Hope, managing director of Castle Recruitment, said: “We are seeing a buoyant market in the permanent recruitment sector specifically. It's still a very tight labour market, but there's a mismatch between unemployment and the jobs that are available. Candidates are becoming so much more demanding, so more higher wages, expectations around flexible working, working from home hours that are required because they're very aware that they have the upper hand.”

Steve Lowe, sales director, Local IQ Newsquest Yorkshire said: “The last three months have seen the high streets get busier, confidence had started to grow but I think the last two weeks have just kicked confidence, really, and people are across all of our sectors are quite nervous of what the new year is going to bring and that's what will impact hugely on the economy. Of course, newspaper advertising is a great indicator of the economy.

“I think the last two or three weeks have made everyone almost go back 12 months. I feel like it’s a game of snakes and ladders in this world - I thought I'd got to the top of the ladder and the snake has come along and I'm not quite sure how far down the slippery slope we're going to go.”