RUTH SUNDERLAND: My mum’s philosophy to ‘simply get on with it’ endorsed by HSBC

My mum will be delighted. Her stoic philosophy of life, which can be summed up as ‘just get on with it’, has been endorsed by HSBC’s head of commercial banking in the UK, Stuart Tait.

Her bracing doctrine, to be deployed in any adversity, brooks no self-pity. Setbacks must quickly be conquered, failure is not countenanced, excuses fall on deaf ears.

Tait cites that ‘just get on with it’ mentality as a major reason many large corporates in the UK are doing surprisingly well.

Rather than moaning about governments or markets, the ‘get on with it’ gang put their heads down, work harder, innovate and adapt.

The no-nonsense approach is working. HSBC’s Corporate Tracker report, based on more than 14,000 companies with sales of £36m or more and 250-plus employees, found large firms that have been quietly cracking on are in good fettle regardless of the general gloom. Among the big corporates in its research, median turnover has grown by 10.5 per cent a year from 2021 to 2024, outstripping overall growth in the UK economy by a wide margin.

Debt levels have steadied, balance sheets are stronger and they are using strong cashflows to finance growth.

The way forward?: Many large corporates are doing surprisingly well, despite Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves doing their worst

Even better, these firms are hiring: employment has risen from 14m to 17.7m over the period, in defiance of the general malaise in the jobs market.

That is significant because, although they account for only 0.4 per cent of all firms in the UK, they provide jobs for 45 per cent of the workforce. HSBC’s findings are out of kilter with the prevailing mood of gloom.

In some sectors this is entirely justifiable, particularly in retail and hospitality, which are suffering from the ill-conceived hikes in National Insurance and the minimum wage, coupled with the mess the Government has made of business rates.

Their pain is real but does not negate a more robust picture elsewhere.

HSBC found the strongest growth among large corporates was concentrated in the North West, Yorkshire and the West Midlands, which is encouraging in terms of spreading prosperity outside London and the South East.

These firms are the backbone of regional economies – they attract foreign investors and act as anchors for local supply chains.

Their importance to the regions has grown as political cycles have become dramatically shorter: the long reigns of Thatcher and Blair/Brown – even John Major was in No 10 for six-and-a-half years – seem a lifetime ago. Since 2016 there have been five different prime ministers. The churn means businesses cannot rely on revolving door politicians to do things on their behalf, they have to look after themselves.

Separate research by Lloyds Bank found that firms’ confidence in their own prospects is rising, whereas optimism towards the wider UK economy has gone in the opposite direction. This seeming contradiction can be explained as entrepreneurs having more faith in their own competence than they have in politicians, and they are probably right.

The noble art of ‘just getting on with it’ in business is not pretentious enough to gain traction with management consultants, and it is too austere to appeal to the weak or the woke.

Clearly, the ‘get on with it’ mentality is not a sufficient condition for business success – much more is required – but few firms will survive for long without it.

The fact HSBC has discovered such reserves of it in large UK corporates, despite Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves doing their worst, is enough to give you hope.