Top Tory meets business bosses (From Swindon Advertiser)

Top Tory meets business bosses

1:00pm Friday 31st October 2008 in News

A MEETING between the leading lights of Swindon business and the man who wants to help hold the country’s purse strings took place yesterday.

Philip Hammond MP, shadow chief secretary to the the treasury, met representatives from businesses including Honda, Beard Construction, Morris Owen and GWE Business West.

The whistle-stop meeting was part of a national tour for Mr Hammond, who said he wanted to understand the concerns of businesses on the ground.

Topics raised included policies of a future Conservative Government, investing in skills training for British workers and funding for small businesses.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Hammond said: “I am very pleased to be able to meet with people outside the London bubble, and find out what the concerns are here in Swindon.

“To have such a cross-section of the business community, from global employers like Honda, to smaller home-grown businesses, gives you a real flavour of what is going on.

“From concerns over the global effects of the credit crunch to how it will affect the regeneration of the town centre - it was a good exchange of views.

“What I have said is that I will come back again in six to eight months and see what has changed.”

Mike Godfrey, a director at Honda, said: “It was an interesting meeting but with the short time available to us it wasn’t really possible to discuss all the issues facing the business community in Swindon.”

But David Pedley, chairman of GWP Packaging based in Cricklade, said he had found the event worthwhile. He said: “Philip is clearly someone who has a deep knowledge of what is happening to small businesses across the UK and it was interesting to find out what the policies of a Conservative government would be.”