Economy grows 0.1% but new Prime Minister must address challenges to support business

Richard Blackmore from The East Midlands Chamber

The East Midlands Chamber has called on the incoming Prime Minister and political leaders to prioritise greater support for firms in the region to incentivise them to invest to grow, despite a 0.1% lift in GDP for May.

The estimated figure published by the Office for National Statistics is a return to growth following a 0.1% contraction in April.

East Midlands Chamber Director of Policy and Insight Richard Blackmore said: “Seeing some growth in GDP, especially considering the impact of economic pressures like the Middle East conflict, is generally encouraging but this is only a slight increase.

“With many East Midlands firms having stalled their investment plans, according to our Quarterly Economic Survey for Q2 2026, the new Prime Minister and political leaders should seize the opportunity to prioritise supportive policies for business, such as those set out in our Framework for Growth.

“That means making energy support packages wider reaching, reviewing business rates – a full root and branch review – and investing, not cutting back, on transport infrastructure improvements, as we saw with the recent abandonment of signed-off A46 and A38 work.

“Fewer than half of East Midlands businesses have attempted to recruit, according to our survey findings, while a quarter have revised their machinery investment plans downwards and one of five their planned training investment. Trends like that are not conducive to growth; they lead to a slowdown.

“The incoming Prime Minister has promised to deliver ‘growth in every postcode’ – that must include all East Midlands postcodes and mean business is incentivised to invest.”