Shadow Chancellor key speaker as fastest movers are honoured

SHADOW Chancellor Ed Balls MP will be the guest of honour at the Yorkshire Fastest 50 2013 Awards ceremony in Leeds next month, it was confirmed yesterday.

Mr Balls, the MP for Morley & Outwood in West Yorkshire, will deliver the keynote speech at the event at Aspire Leeds on Friday, March 15.

Securing the Shadow Chancellor’s appearance is a notable coup for the event, which highlights and rewards the fastest-growing companies in Yorkshire in recent years.

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Mr Balls has been Shadow Chancellor since 2011 and is one of the most influential thinkers in Labour circles on the econ- omy.

He was chief economic adviser to the Treasury from 1997 to 2004, during which time he worked on policies including the independence of the Bank of

England, the minimum wage, the New Deal jobs programme and the windfall tax.

Mr Balls, who was previously MP for Normanton from 2005 to 2010, was Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010 and was Shadow Home Secretary before taking up his current role as Shadow Chancellor.

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He lives in Castleford with his wife and fellow Labour MP Yvette Cooper and their three child- ren.

Martin Hulls, the partner and head of office in Leeds for Yorkshire Fastest 50 organisers and sponsors Ward Hadaway, said last night: “We are delighted that Ed Balls has agreed to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Yorkshire Fastest 50 Awards.

“This is great news for the event and for the region as a whole and I am sure the Shadow Chancellor will be met with a very interested audience on March 15.

“As a Yorkshire MP and keen economic observer, I feel certain that he will be impressed by the region’s business success stories embodied by the Yorkshire Fastest 50 and hope that his appearance will help to ensure that their achievements will get even greater exposure.”

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The Shadow Chancellor will join representatives of the region’s fastest growing companies, and key members of the Yorkshire business community at Aspire Leeds to see awards given to the fastest growing small, medium and large private companies in the region.

One of these three companies will then be crowned as Yorkshire’s overall fastest growing company of the year.

The Yorkshire Fastest 50 rewards privately-owned companies and organisations which have shown the strongest sales growth over recent years and have generated profits for the same period.

It is sponsored and organised by Top 100 UK law firm Ward Hadaway with the Yorkshire Post and is establishing itself as a notable barometer of the region’s economy after launching in 2011.

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Jamie Martin, managing partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “This is only the third year in which the Yorkshire Fastest 50 Awards have been held, but the event is fast becoming a fixture on the region’s business calendar.

“The fact that we have been able to attract the Shadow Chancellor to give the keynote address is further evidence of the growing importance of the event.”

Next Tuesday the Yorkshire Post will print the Yorkshire Fastest 50 for 2013.

The list will show which privately-owned companies across Yorkshire are really setting the pace when it comes to helping to build the region’s economic re- covery.

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As well as listing the Yorkshire Fastest 50, we will also include brief profiles of each of the companies who have made it into the final 50.

Mr Hulls added yesterday: “We launched the Yorkshire Fastest 50 with the Yorkshire Post because we want to highlight and celebrate the terrific work of companies right across the region and bring their achievements to a wider audience.

“As well as championing individual success, we hope that the Fastest 50 will also help to create a genuine insight into the dynamism and vibrancy of the commercial world in Yorkshire and a valuable snapshot of the sectors and industries enjoying the greatest expansion.”