00:00:02 · S0, Surinder Arora, S2
[00:00:02] S0: Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. [00:00:05] S1: Radio. [00:00:07] S2: Now, I want to talk about the wake of the budget here in the UK. So, John Healey making the announcement on Wednesday. UK business groups were pretty frustrated though after that budget, worried about the lack of measures to support businesses. Just look at the Confederation of British Industries saying that it lacked bold moves. Also, Bloomberg's reporting this morning that economists are warning that Chancellor Healey is pushing the boundaries when it comes to tax in order to pay its way out of debt. There were some measures, though, in the budget for entrepreneurs, the new founders relief. There was also the idea that the UK government might create an investment visa. Also, the UK government sort of avoided creating one particular investment route. Let's bring in, though, for perspective from business on this, billionaire Surinder Arora, who is founder and chairman of the hotel operator Arora Group. He also leads the Heathrow West competing expansion plan, which rivals Heathrow Airport's own official third runway project. [00:01:16] S0: We've spoken before, Surinder. Welcome back. Thank you for being with us. Just firstly, what was your take on the budget? I mean, you know, you're a businessman. [00:01:24] S2: You've got a whole series of hotels across the UK. [00:01:27] S0: What did you make of it?
00:01:27 · S0, Surinder Arora
[00:01:27] S0: What did you make of it? [00:01:28] S1: I think it was fairly flat in a sense. I appreciate that the government have a lot of debt and they obviously need to be careful about on one hand. And on the other hand, you know, when he was coming out with the, the Chancellor came out with the benefit relief again, you know, giving 20 odd million folks another £ 100 and adding sort of £ 2 billion on that expenditure. Was there really need to do that? Of course, different people who have different views on that side. I think I've always said just my own personal views that two things that are not quite right in our great country. One is the welfare, the benefit system, and the other is NHS. There's plenty of money in the NHS, but no one, no government in my memory have ever tackled the underlying issues why there's so much spend and yet the service and the delivery isn't there. And then on the benefits, we're just so soft as a nation. And that's really what's dragging down, you know, whether our debt levels are going through the roof. And I just wish some government will actually come in firmly and say, we have a big issue here and we need to resolve it, rather than let's just try to please a few people with 100 quid that might help us in the future in our votes and other things. That was disappointing from my personal perspective. [00:02:59] S0: Okay.
00:02:59 · S0, S2, Surinder Arora
[00:02:59] S0: Okay. [00:03:00] S2: Do you think we're reaching the limits of taxation right now, specifically business taxation? I mean, banks got that increase in their bank levy in the surcharge. It doubled. It's being limited to 15 months. What kind of message does that send to you as a business owner, business leader? [00:03:19] S1: Look, you know, it's obviously– People are always very cautious on all the expenses when you're running a business. It's not just the wage bill. It's all the other costs associated with it. And again, we talk about the minimum wage increase, and that would add, again, a few million on our wage bill and lots of other companies, the same thing. So you can only keep going up so much before that plane starts stalling. And in my view... We really have over the past few years, we have been just taking, taking, taking, yet we need to do something that will actually correct the things. I do have sympathy for the government on the level of debt, but this is not the right way to go about it. And just tax and also by pushing entrepreneurs out of the nation, out of the country, rather than welcome them in. If you look at other countries, whether you look at Italy, Portugal, whether you look at Dubai or other places, people are always welcomed. They're going to come in, create employment, pay taxes. And unfortunately on our side, it's just let's keep on squeezing. And we are really becoming so uncompetitive. And I wish the government would look at that more seriously. [00:04:41] S0: Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:41 · S0, S2, Surinder Arora
[00:04:41] S0: Yeah, absolutely. [00:04:42] S2: But does it make you change your view on the UK? I mean, we have seen people like Chris Rockos leaving. You know, does it make you reconsider or others? How do you think about it? [00:04:56] S1: Well, I've been in England, UK for 54 years. And after the Rachel Reeves budget a couple of years ago, it was the first time we start asking ourselves the question, do I really want to be here? But then I've taken a different view. I came to this great country with nothing 54 years ago, have managed to build up a business, secure a family future, employ over 3,000 people, and we decided I may not agree with this government. It's the same with the Brexit thing. I didn't agree with, based on the Brexit, that I was going to be leaving the nation and leaving Europe and negotiate from the outside. I felt, no, I've made all my money, my business, my success here. I will continue and I'll fight from within rather than leave the country and run off somewhere. So, of course, it's painful. But no, that's something that I've decided to very happily and proudly say I'm going to stay and fight from within the camp. [00:05:56] S0: Yeah. [00:05:57] S2: And so what did you think about this investor visa idea? [00:06:01] S0: I mean, the government didn't. [00:06:03] S2: Create an investor visa route or any sort of route for wealthy overseas residents, you know, to make a base in the UK beyond just the sort of current now fairly narrow employment talent routes. [00:06:17] S0: Was that a mistake?
00:06:17 · S0, Surinder Arora, S2
[00:06:17] S0: Was that a mistake? [00:06:19] S1: Well, I think, of course, you know, when you've driven so many people, you mentioned yourself, so many entrepreneurs, business people leave the country and then you want to start the investor visa route. we should be looking at thinking well actually we don't want people that are I shouldn't just use the wealth creators but employment creators people who entrepreneurs who start off take a lot of risk and in life there should always be risk and reward rather than that jealousy factor let's just keep going after the entrepreneurs and the rich people so then you drive them out and I think if personally, if it was me, I'd actually be saying, let's get more entrepreneurs, more business people, and not even business people. We cannot get enough resource, whether in our hospitality sector, in the care sector, travel tourism. Travel tourism is more than 10% of our GDP. We should be encouraging people to come in, if they want to come into the country and work and pay taxes... That should be win-win for everyone. You know, we struggle in our industry to employ people. And I really wish the government would look at that. [00:07:32] S2: Yeah. Just lastly, on the new founders relief offer, do you think that that will make any difference? It's offering tax relief for entrepreneurs who build up a business and limiting the amount of tax they have to pay up to 10 million pounds were they to sell a business. [00:07:47] S0: Does that make any difference to you?
00:07:47 · S0, Surinder Arora, S2
[00:07:47] S0: Does that make any difference to you? [00:07:51] S1: Not to me personally, but I think it definitely makes a difference for young entrepreneurs, for people coming in. But, you know, then again, we should be aiming high. And, you know, people, whether you have big entrepreneurs, big meaning, you know, that are coming in and are setting up business, employing thousands of people, we should be welcoming and encouraging all business leaders rather than discouraging them. [00:08:16] S0: So it's not ambitious enough, the 10 million, in your view? [00:08:19] S2: No. [00:08:20] S1: We can always do a lot better in my view. [00:08:22] S0: Okay. [00:08:22] S2: So, Linda, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate your view. So, Linda, Arora is founder and chairman of the hotel operator Arora Group.