Businesses will need support to rebuild after appalling riots: Nasreen Karim

Right now, people from all walks of life up and down the country are scared. Scared that their background might make them a target. Scared to go to work in case they come across danger. Scared to open their business in case their staff or premises are attacked and damaged. And all of this in 2024.

Communities across Britain have faced violence and rioting not seen on our shores for more than a decade. Unlike previous periods of violent disorder we have seen on our streets in modern history, the violence seen in 2024 was not spontaneous but rather orchestrated deliberately by far-right groups intent on spreading terror to our communities, specifically to target immigrants and those who follow the Islamic faith.

Mercifully, the business community that West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce serves, has not faced any significant disruption in terms of rioting and criminal damage at the hands of fascist thugs.

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However, our colleagues in Teesside and in South Yorkshire have not been so fortunate, with rioters in the latter having tried to set alight a hotel housing recently arrived refugees, human beings who had come to Britain in search of a safer way of life.

Police survey Hoe Street as Walthamstow businesses board up their windows on August 7, 2024 in Walthamstow, United Kingdom. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)Police survey Hoe Street as Walthamstow businesses board up their windows on August 7, 2024 in Walthamstow, United Kingdom. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Police survey Hoe Street as Walthamstow businesses board up their windows on August 7, 2024 in Walthamstow, United Kingdom. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, across the country, business and communities face a multi-million-pound bill owing to the damage that has been caused.

Then, there is of course the psychological damage. Communities and businesses have faced considerable disruption, not only from rioting and violence, but also from vast swathes of misinformation circulating about potential further disturbances.

This has understandably perturbed many individuals and families who have been reluctant to venture into towns and city centres or to patron businesses. We know from our network that town and city centres have seen significantly reduced footfall since the violence begun.

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There have been dilemmas as well for employers, who will have fearful for the safety of both their premises and staff. Again, we have heard feedback from many owners who have been voluntarily closing early, asking staff to work remotely or ensuring staff from certain backgrounds temporarily have less visible roles.

West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce took the decision four years ago to establish a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Committee. It is a committee I am proud to chair as we work to connect, support and represent Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic businesses.

As a committee and as a chamber we, of course, condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence that has proliferated around Britain, as well as the prejudice and ignorance that fuels it.

But it is not enough for us merely to join the growing chorus of condemnations from Britain’s institutions.

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We must insist that businesses are supported during this period of uncertainty. Small business owners, many of whom have spent a lifetime building their enterprise through hard work and creativity, have a right to be both kept safe but also to be assisted in rebuilding if they have suffered any disruption.

As a Chamber we stand ready to offer any support, guidance or assistance that we can for our region’s SMEs.

Meanwhile, we advise all firms to make sure that you are set up so as to be able to make sure your employee protection policies are up-to-date. We recommend you ensure that your business premises, even if vacant, are secure and safe. If you are concerned about the safety of your premises and staff, contact the police.

Yorkshire’s great strength both as an economy and as a destination is its diversity.

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Its people have ancestry that stretches across the entire planet and as an economy we transact all over the world. This international reputation for business excellence will have undoubtably have been damaged by the events of the past week.

However, amid all the mayhem, we also saw flashes of what Britain really is. I am speaking of the communities coming together in the aftermath of rioting to collectively clean up the mess created.

I am thinking of the people at a mosque in Liverpool who prepared and brought food to people who had been previously expressing animosity to their place of worship, a process that led not to violence, but to both sides embracing one another.

This is what Britain truly is at its heart.

Nasreen Karim is chair of West & North Yorkshire Chamber’s BAME committee and Director at Platinum Partnership Solicitors in Bradford

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