Business

rory_thehutThe economic profile of Penrith and The Border is unique. It has very low unemployment (with many people holding down multiple jobs) and more self-employed people than almost any other constituency in Britain. Approximately 23 per cent of the population work from home, and 93 per cent work for businesses employing less than ten. A large proportion of my time is spent working with and understanding these small and medium-sized enterprises; understanding where government can do more to help, and where it needs to step back.

I am concerned about the way in which out-of-town supermarkets are affecting our traditional high streets, the difficulty many businesses are still having getting access to loans and funding, and what I see as the dangers of trying to artificially pump prime into industries and economies which simply do not exist in most parts of Cumbria.

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CrosbyRhousing

innovia and wigton

When I ran last week from parliamentary meetings about the Cumbrian sewage system; to the Olympics; the Forestry Commission; army reforms; and rural planning guidelines, I found myself struggling to keep up with it all. Learning about new policy areas can be bewildering and dispiriting. Officials scatter jargon: yesterday, SME didn’t mean Small and Medium […]