The Affects of the New Budget of the UK on Built Environment Firms Research Paper

The Affects of the New Budget of the UK on Built Environment Firms - Research Paper Example The researcher states that the Parliament will be implementing austerity measures to combat the growing deficit. The deficit is projected to be  £163 billion, which is historically high. Moreover, for the years 2014/2015, the budget deficit is projected to be  £74 billion, which is still historically high and is 4% of GDP. The current budget deficit is 11% of GDP. Part of the reason for this deficit can be attributed to the economic recession – tax revenues are less in a recession, and government expenditures, such as unemployment benefits, are increased. This is cyclical – once the economy recovers, then the tax revenues will increase, and the government expenditures will decrease. That said, economic recovery is uncertain at this point. Moreover, even after the economy recovers, there are still going to be lasting effects. The government assumes that the productive potential of the country has been permanently damaged by the protracted economic recession, and this is one problem that the UK government will still face. The housing and the financial sectors of the economy have also suffered permanent structural negative effects. The UK government estimates that the permanent structural deficit comprises 2/3 of the current deficit, and that the cyclical effects comprises only 1/3. Therefore, 2/3 of the current deficit is not related to the current economic cycle, which means that 2/3 of the deficit will not be alleviated once economic recovery begins. Therefore, the UK will have to implement additional taxes and will have to cut spending in a variety of areas of the budget. (The Economic Recovery and the Budget Deficit). These budget cuts will have a serious impact on the economy, in particular, firms which specialize in built environment. Therefore, this paper will examine the affects the budget cuts will have on a built environment firm with multiple offices, who shall remain anonymous. Discussion Firm Chosen The firm which was chosen for thi s project is A. This is not my employer. A has offices in Brentwood, Purfleet and Upminster. This firm specializes in carpentry and building services. They are a full service firm, with professionals in the engineering, plumbing, electrical, carpentry and building areas. They also perform commercial work, which includes governmental work. In addition to building residences and commercial buildings, they also do landscaping and groundwork, as well as renovations and refurbishments. They also specialize in loft conversions, which means that they take existing spaces in the roof of residential homes and convert these spaces into livable areas (http://www.milbarnconstruction. co.uk/). Austerity and Neo-Liberalism The UK Parliament is essentially implementing austerity measures, in that they are going to cut spending from the budget, in addition to increasing taxes. This is also known as â€Å"neo-liberalism.† Neo-liberalism, explains Grimshaw and Rubery, is marked the pursuing of low inflation, offering limited state assistance to industries and firms, deregulating product markets and liberalizing capital flows. In the process, the interests of finance capitalists are prioritized. Grimshaw and Rubery state that neo-liberalism results in falling wages, instability and growing debt, because it favors capital over labour. Nevertheless, Grimshaw and Rubery state that, even though the UK banking crisis was at least partially caused by a dearth of regulations on the banks, in the belief that allowing unfettered markets will help the markets grow, the UK did not impose any additional regulations on th