Building on the spirit of enterprise - Toby Harper

Despite the unprecedented challenges of the past 16 months, there are so many reasons to feel positive wherever you look. Not least because 41,265 businesses opened across the region last year – which is a staggering 113 new launches every single day.

Each part of the county can boast record levels of new registrations. In West Yorkshire they were up 9.4 per cent on 2019 levels. In the south they rose by 8.4 per cent. And the north and east both saw increases of above 5 per cent too.

Outside of London, our county also boasts the largest financial services hub in the UK and the access to talent from the region’s seven universities should be the envy of the world.

But it’s the never-say-die, go-getting attitude of the region’s entrepreneurs – which simply can’t be taught – which sets them apart. And it’s that sense of ambition and innovation, which permeates through our region, that lies behind my decision to base a national law firm for entrepreneurs in Yorkshire.

At Harper James Solicitors we now work with nearly 2,000 ambitious companies across the UK, of various sizes, and help support them at each stage in their life-cycle.

It’s been amazing to see how many have turned the challenges of the past 16 months on their head and pivoted in a way that has enabled them to expand.

Whether it’s quickly switching supply chains, moving to home-working or launching a fantastic new product or service which is tailor made for a tech-led market, self-starting entrepreneurs have demonstrated remarkable innovation during the toughest of times. But we need to build on it.

Since the last General Election the Government has turned ‘levelling up’ into a neat soundbite. But we really need to see the Prime Minister deliver and make good on the promises he has made to those living outside London. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that you really don’t need a shiny city centre office to thrive. With the right support you can work from anywhere and succeed.

At Harper James Solicitors we have offices in Yorkshire, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham as well as London.

The capital remains vital to our recovery. But ministers need to ensure go-getters based in villages and towns have the same opportunities to thrive as those city workers.

Businesses are clearly drawing confidence from the strength of the economic recovery since some restrictions were lifted in April. But this confidence will quickly evaporate if it isn’t matched by decisive and ambitious political leadership.

Surely the best message we can send to the Government is to make good on their promise to level things up. Equip our region’s great innovators with the tools they need. We will then take care of business because, after all, that’s what we do best here.

Toby Harper is CEO of Harper James Solicitors

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Thank you

James Mitchinson