POLITICS
The Big Opportunity
– Chamber delegation takes the asks of East Midlands businesses to the heart of Westminster
How did the Westminster delegation come about and what’s the main message behind the Chamber’s manifesto? The whole manifesto has been produced from
a series of conversations and consultations that we have held with members. This document is, in essence, what our members want to see from Government in terms of supporting them, boosting their competitiveness, realising their international ambitions, enhancing the region’s connectivity and, ultimately, getting the fundamentals right. This was about going down to Westminster, to
the heart of Government, and talking to our politicians; looking into the whites of their eyes and explaining the key priorities that need addressing and what businesses want to enable them to flourish.
It was an opportunity to burst that Westminster
bubble and take a cohort representative of our wider membership from across our three counties and across all sectors – from businesses large and small – to speak as one voice and discuss what the region needs in order to get things done.
Were there any challenges given the event fell the day the Brexit draft agreement was released? It was a busy day politically with the fallout
from the draft Brexit deal and in a way that was an advantage – it showed the microcosm of politicians dealing with Brexit while businesses look to get on and do business. It was a good contrast and indicative of the landscape of the past two years.
Who was in attendance and what was the overall message? We had manufacturers, transport businesses,
businesses in the services sector, consultants – all shapes and sizes of businesses down at Westminster and all providing a united message. We got really good engagement from our MPs, so it was a really successful and productive visit. The whole premise of the Westminster
delegation was the opportunity to speak with one united voice on behalf of the region’s businesses – that was very powerful. The challenge is making sure that the key
messages we spoke about continue to be at the forefront of minds in Westminster among influencers and decision-makers. We must continue to hold our politicians to account to ensure they deliver on behalf of East Midlands businesses.
42 business network December 2018/January 2019
How beneficial was it to go armed with insights from the State of the Economy Conference, which took place just five days before the Westminster visit? The timing of the State of the Economy
Conference certainly wasn’t by accident. We’ve held the State of the Economy Conference for a few years now but one of the key elements that really struck me this year is the consistency of message that came from all of the speakers on the day. We should absolutely hold our public sector
colleagues to account but similarly, as a private sector, we need to make sure we’re joined up and from that perspective I feel like we’ve made great strides over the past 12 months and that’s certainly the feedback we’ve been getting, which is very encouraging. It was great to be able to go down to Westminster with that clarity of view and a strong, united message.
Who spoke at Westminster? Our Chief Executive Scott Knowles opened the
proceedings and outlined the contents and asks of Delivering a Great Future: A Business Manifesto. We had Vernon Coaker, Labour MP for Gedling
who sits on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee. Then we had Nigel Mills, Conservative MP for
Amber Valley and Co-chair for the All Party Parliamentary Group for the East Midlands. We also heard from Kevin Harris, Chair of the Leicester and Leicester Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) and newly-appointed President of the Chamber as well as David Williams, who talked from the perspective of his roles as Vice-chair of
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