The FSB team with Andrew Lewer, MP From L-R: Michael Weedon, Jennifer Thomas, Andrew Lewer MP, Sally Wood, Rav Panesar.
Area Leader Sally Wood in the Houses of Parliament.
Sally Wood, Rav Panesar, Michael Weedon and Arnab Dutt joined local Development manager Jennifer Thomas to meet MPs and Ministers from across the political spectrum along with FSBs national lobbying team. Key themes of discussion were business support, startups, business rates, women in enterprise, late payments, Innovation and tax credits, public sector procurement, crime against small businesses and support to go green.
Tina Mckenzie, FSBs chair of policy gave a rousing opening speech, insisting to the gathered political decision-makers that “Small businesses don't want a handout they want a hand up”, and challenging them to “Think small first.”
Tina (pictured above) said that supporting new start-ups was key to replenishing the small business community following a reduction in the small business and self-employed population from six million to 5.5 million through the difficulties of the last couple of years.
“It’s time to turn around that 500,000 contraction, to turn to ‘growth’. Our small business owner population has been getting more diverse but we have some way to go – so we also want to see more women entrepreneurs, more ethnic minority business owners, more disabled entrepreneurs, and more of the LGBT+ community taking the plunge into business ownership and self-employment”
Jane Hunt, MP for Loughborough and Chair of the Small Business APPG hosted in the Churchill room and opened the politician’s remarks, following launching our latest Rural Businesses report in Westminster last month. She then handed over to Small Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake who described small businesses as “the strong horse that pulls the cart” of the UK economy” and spoke highly of FSB’s work to support and represent small businesses across the UK.
Shadow Minister for International Trade, Nick Thomas-Symonds talked about the importance of reforming business rates and to ensure that the UK is the best place possible to start a small business, and of his commitment to encouraging more SMEs to trade internationally.
Chloe Smith, Secretary of State for science, innovation and technology spoke of the importance of encouraging small business innovation, ensuring all SMEs have the support they need- whether they're spin outs, start-ups or scale ups- “it’s small businesses bringing new ideas to the table.”
Northampton-based FSB Area Leader Sally Wood, whose expertise in finance along with her friendly and open style have helped her to balance supporting members, local member representation and hosting virtual networking events said “I’ve been involved in volunteering with FSB since I joined shortly before lockdown, and it was fantastic to be invited to the House of Commons to hear from a range of speakers who were passionate and supportive of small businesses, and to take part in discussions with politicians and other stakeholders. As a small business owner myself, I see many challenges first-hand, and it’s encouraging to see politicians listening to the FSB and taking seriously what we have to say on behalf of our members ”.