real-life entrepreneurs

Rory  met and chatted with almost twenty small businesses from his constituency last Friday at an event organised by the Federation of Small Businesses, and pledged his support for small businesses by signing up to the FSB’s new campaign championing ‘Real-Life Entrepreneurs’. Businesses attending included Love Solar, Dodd and Co accountants, Maureen Whitemore Interior Design, Ling Joinery, Appleby Manor Hotel, Dipper Foods and Out of Eden.

At the meeting – hosted by Dodds Accountants in Penrith – Rory listened to discussion on the issues affecting small businesses in his constituency, and offered his support to help the FSB press for an enterprise-friendly economy. Topics raised included access to credit, burdensome rules and regulations, employment and apprenticeship issues, and the state of the national economy.

Rory said: “The reality is that there is no template small Cumbrian business, and Penrith and the Border is a record-breaking constituency in this respect, with a higher number of small businesses, self-employed people, and businesses employing less than ten people than any other part of England. If we are looking for a recipe for economic recovery, it is small businesses that have the solution. We could solve the unemployment problem overnight if every small business could take on just one employee each. Large businesses might be less vulnerable, but it is micro-businesses such as those gathered here today who will drive the future of national economic recovery.”

Gary Lovatt, FSB Regional Chairman said: “We are grateful to Rory Stewart for meeting with FSB members and pledging to try to support them.  Members had a number of concerns around access to finance, regulations and taxation which Mr Stewart was very interested to hear about.”