POLITICS INSIDE


Alberto Costa, MP for South Leicestershire, champions the region’s small businesses


The importance of our super, small businesses


outages and 36% said they’d suffered broadband issues.


Nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents said


they regularly connected with customers remotely via digital networks. Sixty-eight per cent said mobile phones were


essential for accessing new and existing customers. While 58% said the networks had improved


over the past five years, 30% said they had seen no appreciable difference and 12% said things were worse now. One-in-ten said they’d suffered mobile phone


networks failings and 36% reported broadband issues that negatively impacted their business. Scott Knowles, Chief Executive at East Midlands Chamber, said: “This original research confirms what we’ve said all along; that our businesses are very good at making things and selling what they make around the world, but they do it despite Government investment in this region, not because of it. “We’ve been seeking to respond to


Government challenges and increase our activity in this region, but it hasn’t been matched by investment in infrastructure and now we’re seeing the results of constant under-investment – for example, over seven-in-ten of our members believe the roads network is less reliable today than it was five years ago. “The East Midlands needs a fair share of


national infrastructure investment. The region needs roads that recognise its importance as the link between north and south and between east and west. It needs a rail network fit for the 21st Century and beyond. It needs improved transport links with East Midlands Airport and better use made of the capacity at the airport for longer haul flights to complement its status as the country’s biggest pure freight airport. “Companies in the East Midlands are among


some of the most pioneering in the world, particularly in advanced technologies, but they are being held back by the lack of investment, which is something Government needs to address today if we are to continue to be successful in tomorrow’s post-Brexit world. “The risk of getting this wrong is stark and, in a


worst case scenario, businesses may feel forced to vote with their feet. We call on all our elected representatives, regionally and in Westminster, to do all they can to ensure this doesn’t happen.”


From large corporate companies to small independent shops and salons, I am incredibly proud of South Leicestershire’s hugely diverse range of businesses. As some of you may know, my


constituency is blessed with quite a variety of quaint market towns, leafy villages and large-scale business developments such as Fosse Park and Magna Park. The former, I had the pleasure of visiting recently to see its exciting plans for its new £138m development - already pulling in over eight million visitors per annum, the shopping park is really the jewel in South Leicestershire’s business crown and this new development will hopefully see those visitor numbers increase further. But while the big businesses are doing big business in South Leicestershire, I would


Small businesses need to be supported


really like to focus on the excellent, diverse number of small businesses we have in our local communities. Since my election in 2015, I have always strived to build close relationships with the constituency’s shopkeepers and small business owners. To this end, I have had the immense pleasure, in the last few years, of taking part in the wonderful Federation of Small Business-led initiative, Small Business Saturday. Established by our friends across the pond, this grassroots, shop local campaign has


been a tremendous success. Last year I visited the lovely market town of Lutterworth, home to independent sweet shops, stationers and perhaps the best butchers in Leicestershire, and my experiences from Small Business Saturday have only furthered the importance of the small independent retailer in my mind; be they on the high street or down a leafy side road, these businesses truly are the heart of our local and national economies. I am similarly pleased that the Conservative Government shares my enthusiasm. With


small businesses forming a central part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, there is a clear commitment to business growth in our towns and villages. Since 2010, the Government has put a business-led recovery at the heart of its plan, from cutting corporate tax to the joint lowest rates of any nation in the G20, to reducing business rates that have taken a huge 600,000 small businesses out of the rates system altogether and, of course, the increase of the Rural Rate Relief – vitally important in constituencies such as South Leicestershire – has been hugely helpful in reducing bills for thousands more businesses. These initiatives will help increase the reach of our incredibly important SMEs, giving


them the tools and the new customers they need to grow. Our small businesses are very much the backbone of our villages, towns, regions and the country as a whole, and we all have a responsibility to help keep that backbone strong to the benefit of both the economy and our local communities.


ABOUT ALBERTO COSTA Alberto has been Member of Parliament for South Leicestershire since 2015 and was re- elected at the 2017 General Election with one of the largest vote shares in the constituency’s history. He is a trained and licensed solicitor, and was previously a member of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, he is currently Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Rt. Hon David Mundell MP. He lives in South Leicestershire with his wife and two children.


business network May 2018 39


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