inspire BUSINESS WEST – CONNECTING BUSINESSES COMMENT & OPINION Keeping you up-to-date with the latest political policies and decisions that affect South West businesses


Why is the single market so important?


By Molly Scott Cato MEP, South West of England, Green Party


When MPs first got to debate how Brexit would be implemented, the most significant flashpoint was an amendment from Labour backbencher Chuka Umunna to keep the UK inside the single market. But what does this mean, and why is it so important to business? The single market, which developed


from the common market we joined in 1973 and was largely driven by British Conservatives, began as a way of making it easier for businesses to trade right across our continent without any barriers. This obviously implies that we all have to meet the same standards of products, which is why British manufacturers have to follow European law. As the single market has developed, European economies have become more and more integrated. The EU has become a single manufacturing base and companies have adjusted so that the components they use may travel backwards and forwards across the EU before the product is finalised. Because there are no border checks they can also rely on instant delivery and just-in-time production methods which increase efficiency and reduce costs. Although the single market began as an economic initiative, over time it has also been used to increase environmental and social standards of production. For example, it is the EU’s rules that domestic appliances have to reach higher standards of energy efficiency that means we are using less energy. So the single market is essential to the success of British business but also protects the high standards of living we enjoy as European citizens. Like so many Brexit issues, both Labour and Conservative parties are divided on the single market which means we are going to need our politicians to work across parties for the good of the country.


12 insight SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017


Changing opinions towards agriculture


By IAN MEAN, director in Gloucestershire, Business West


T


ime was when the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester – now the Royal Agricultural University – was perceived


to be somewhat aloof and not an organisation which really related to Gloucestershire’s wider business community. That impression is being changed by what I


can only describe as a dynamic new broom sweeping through it. She is the new vice chancellor, Jo Price, who seems determined to ensure that the world’s first agricultural institution in the English speaking world builds on its global reputation. That reputation mirrors itself


in the fact that it has a powerful global alumni of 14,000 graduates. Jo is a veterinary surgeon


Professor Jo Price, vice chancellor, Royal Agricultural College


by profession like her predecessor, Chris Gaskell. Cirencester’s latest student prospectus boasts undergraduate courses – For the Real World – and I think that is a good summation of what this unique institution should be all about. “It is important that we have the best talent


‘It is important that we have the best talent and the best brains facing the challenges’


knowledge and creativity in agritech and business acumen. “Those who use the land these


days need to have a whole set of skills. They need to understand sustainability agendas and we


have to train them to think flexibly.” Jo is right in the importance of


agritech to Gloucestershire. Food and the


and the best brains facing the challenges we have in agriculture, farming and the food environment sector,” Jo tells me. “But we are not just about farming. We are a vocational university and we will always want to be close to industry and business particularly in the land-based sector. “We do need to be more self-sufficient in


food. Ironically, we were set up following the industrial revolution when the country needed to produce more food. “That is the same today. As we import more


and more food we should be producing ourselves we should also be producing more high quality food for export to an appreciative world market. I think that Gloucestershire should be a major hub for agrifood in the way that Warwick University has become a major hub for specialist engineering. “Agritech is just so important. This is a place for thought leadership and to embrace the latest


production of high quality food is one of the county’s unique selling points but in my view it is not marketed sufficiently with the associated tourism we offer. With Jo at the helm, I think that the perceived eliteness of Cirencester will begin to disappear. We will then, hopefully, see far more students being attracted to what is still one of the world’s leading agricultural institutions. Jo admits that attracting an increased


number of suitable students is perhaps her biggest challenge. “We want to be a little bigger. Currently, we


have 1,200 students and we would like to have at least 1,500 which is challenging in the current demographic climate. I feel we offer something very important in all the sectors we operate in post Brexit. Lots of universities are struggling – and that is not happening to us. There are some advantages in these turbulent times in Higher Education to be small and specialist." Before joining the RAU in September last year,


Jo was head of the School of Clinical Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol.


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