OPINION
EDITOR’S VIEW
BY JOHN LAMB
Lib Dems get the Chamber message
the Lib-Dem Party conference at the ICC. David Laws, the former chief secretary to the Treasury and MP for Yeovil, led the debate chaired by Chamber president Christine Braddock and spoke of the pressure for growth and deficit reduction. He reassured us that the Government was determined to protect transport infrastructure projects; to stimulate investment in the private sector and to create the education and apprentices needed to ensure the country produces the skills needed. But Simon Topman, former president of Birmingham Chamber and managing director of Acme Whistles, touched a raw nerve when he said: “Astonishingly, we are not doing enough in this region for business creation – and we are supposed to be one of the most innovative areas in the UK.”
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‘We need to start making the game-changing moves’
Simon pointed out that there were tens of thousands of school-leavers in Birmingham who were going to need jobs. He said the danger was that those people who failed to get jobs would not point to the economy as the reason. They would say it was “post code prejudice”, said Simon. “They will say we are out of work because we are an ethnic minority. We must not let this happen.” Steve Hollis, deputy chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership and partner at KPMG, told Mr Laws that if the Government was “going to genuinely re-balance the economy you need to spend more time with the second biggest city in this country”. He went on: “We need to start making the game- changing moves, which will come through the political changes we can make. One of the things we are pressing for is trying to build a greater ownership culture in the region. To do that you have actually got to give greater value.” To illustrate his point, Steve pointed to a conversation he had with Christine Braddock. Having been shown round the Matthew Boulton College, he asked her how it was funded and it was, of course, through cheques from Whitehall. “I asked Christine how the cheques from Whitehall got into her bank account and I counted over 20 different sets of hands in the public sector. If that was my business I would look at all those hands and try and work out how they’re adding value to a product that is actually getting world- class business to come to Birmingham. “They are investing here so that they can actually
develop the people they want in their business. The reality is that if we are going to make game-changing moves we have to make the most of every piece of cash we have got. You can’t tell me that is happening if it goes through 20 sets of hands. That is why we have got to look hard at what we do and address some of the sacred cows.” Steve assured us that the Greater Birmingham LEP
wanted to offer as much support as possible and we left the gathering feeling that the very presence of the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham had at least allowed us to get a few messages over to where it mattered.
4 CHAMBERLINK OCTOBER 2011
anufacturing and growth were very much on the minds of people who attended a Birmingham Chamber fringe event during
CEC Chamber Executive Club Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry CHAMBERLINK
FRONT COVER Gateley’s Michael Ward who has been named the new president of Birmingham Chamber See page 8
EDITOR John Lamb 0121 450 4228
j.lamb@
birmingham-chamber.com
DEPUTY EDITOR Sue Cooke 0121 450 4201
s.cooke@
birmingham-chamber.com
PICTURE EDITOR Tony Bell 0121 450 4220
t.bell@
birmingham-chamber.com
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Connecting you to opportunity
BIRMINGHAM CHAMBER PATRONS 2011
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