Though variant figures have emerged, the bill the UK will have to pay out to exit the EU amounts to a significant amount of the nation’s GDP. The latest figure is reported to be £39 billion. Amelia Bishop, of Amelia Bishop Consulting, believes this sum of cash could and should be spent on far more important economic priorities.
Paying the EU £39bn is a lot of money that could be better used elsewhere, whilst considering where else could benefit massively it occurred to me that there are so many areas of our lives that could be improved with a financial boost and narrowing it down hasn’t been an easy task.
Prioritising such a list also has its challenges, as so many needy areas see themselves as a priority when asked, and they are often well justified.
Whilst the beneficiaries of my assignment of £39 billion are all in somewhat equal need they are prioritised partly by need and partly by urgency.
1. The NHS £20bn
- £12.5bn General - £10bn to hospitals, £2.5bn to GP services
The government’s pledge of an additional £8bn in May 17 was claimed by experts to result in a £12bn deficit in the same period due to NHS spend increasing by 1.2% per annum. An additional £6.3bn pledged by the government during this parliament in the recent autumn budget would not bridge the deficit gap therefore I would assign the NHS and additional £12.5bn to totally remove the deficit and provide the NHS with an additional £6.8bn cashflow to spend on additional staff and efficiency improvements.
- £6bn to Mental Health services
In recent months a number of safe centres have been earmarked for closure in part being due to insufficient expansion room and the cost of building new centres being too high. An additional £6.5bn will provide cashflow to enable the building of new mental health centres, this additional funding combined with the sale of existing mental health centres for development land would provide funding to assist with the provision of much needed additional bed space in newly developed mental health centres.
- £1.5bn to Disability services providing workplace education
We are currently in times of high employment with many employers struggling to fill vacancies and seeing increased competition in retaining their existing staff. Providing support and workplace training for disabled people will provide an additional pool of resource for employers and give many disabled people additional skills and self-esteem to gain opportunities of work.
2. Charities £2bn – End of life care, saving and improving lives specifically
- £1bn – GDPR readiness/implementation to reprioritise time and resource back to their cause
The new GDPR legislation is putting increased pressure on the limited resource that charities have to become compliant by May 2018. Money is also being diverted for GDPR readiness taking it away from the cause that these charities fundraise for, an additional £1bn fund will assist these charities in continuing to support their causes.
- £1bn – Replacement of falling donations due to Brexit uncertainty
With all times of uncertainty, donations are sacrificed for essentials, charities always struggle to provide the necessary support for their cause, an additional £1bn fund will help to cover the shortfall in donations.
3. Brexit - SME readiness funding £8bn
- £5bn – Brexit Preparation funding
There are many risks and wholesale changes coming with our leaving the EU and the cost for business is sizeable depending on the size of the business, SME’s will struggle to fund the changes and contingency planning their business needs therefore a funding pot of £5bn should be provided to support this activity.
- £3bn – Brexit opportunities funding
Brexit will create many opportunities across all industry sectors for entrepreneurs. Exploring opportunities takes time and money, therefore funding of exploring and seizing opportunities will help to remove financial hurdles for entrepreneurs who in the longer term will benefit the UK’s economy and raise the UK’s profile for innovation.
4. People in Poverty £5bn – Bringing people and families out of poverty
With so many people and families falling into the poverty bracket funding should be provided to help with childcare and training to help people out of poverty and into work. This will also help with making additional people available to assist with filling the vacancies that have been created by the fall in available workers.
5. Social Housing £4bn – Building more affordable homes
The government committed £1bn to the creation of affordable homes in the recent autumn budget. With house prices so high across the country many young people stand no chance of buying their own home, therefore I would invest another £4bn to boost the amount of affordable homes, creating many jobs in the process.
