‘Support business or face a bleak future’

At the opening of the event, Mr Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, told an audience: “If as a country, we do not celebrate business, remembering it is the only source of wealth creation, we will not deal with the economic conditions we face and our future will be bleak.

“As Chambers up and down the country say, business is necessary for our economic recovery, but it is also good for communities and good for individuals.”

The Conservative MP said that there are not enough “high profile voices speaking up for business” and not enough “positive stories”. Mr Jones said: “It is not as if we have nothing to celebrate – new products and services visible in the halls here today, plus entrepreneurial spirit.”

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Mr Jones explained: “If we do not provide a good environment for business, then business will go to other countries. We have seen this happen over decades as we have lost business by being uncompetitive out of Western Europe and into the Far East.

“We need to address that by addressing competitiveness and part of being competitive is being welcoming to business, showing we have an entrepreneurial zeal.” Mr Jones said the media, businesses and politicians all have a role to play in achieving this.

Businesses also need to reach out to their customers, he told the audience yesterday, adding that this is what Yorkshire Business Market is all about – reaching customers, networking, renewing contacts and making new ones.

Yorkshire Business Market, which is in its ninth year and organised by the Harrogate Chamber of Trade & Commerce, is an all-day business-to-business networking event held in Harrogate.

Barbara Brazil, area manager for McCarthy’s Storage World, which is based in Leeds and Harrogate and was among the exhibiting businesses, said: “We find that it’s almost like a village, Harrogate, and everybody knows everybody else, and everybody likes to do business with local companies, and I think that’s what we’ve found, that it’s nice to be able to support local companies and have them support us as well.”

She added: “In the economic climate that we are in I think it’s nice for small, local businesses to flourish.

“We all hear about the big multi-nationals but it’s nice for the local businesses to support each other and see growth and development.”

McCarthy’s is a removals and storage firm, with add-on services including shredding, archiving and confidential destruction. Her comments chime with the Yorkshire Post’s Buy Yorkshire campaign, which encourages businesses to source their goods and services locally to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) win valuable new contracts and strengthen the region’s supply chains.

The Federation of Small Businesses was promoting its Keep Trade Local campaign, which also encourages businesses to trade locally, at the event yesterday. Following the horsemeat scandal, it is calling on consumers to use their independent, high street butchers. Simon Williams, regional chairman, North Yorkshire, for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: “If you go to your local butcher they can tell you exactly where it (the meat’s) come from and are very knowledgeable about it rather than just going to your supermarket and picking up your pre-packed which you don’t know where it’s come from and you’ve got to trust what’s on the label.”

Emma Smailes, the FSB’s development manager for North Yorkshire, added: “If you spend money locally it stays locally and benefits the local economy.”

Business Doctors, a support service for SMEs, which recently established an operation covering Leeds and North Yorkshire, was also exhibiting at the event.

Neil Kendall, regional director for West and South Yorkshire at Business Doctors, which has some 30 franchises across the country, said: “Everyone’s talking about the growth agenda at the moment and I think we feel quite strongly that there’s been a general lack of support that’s really effective to help those business owners grow, so that’s where we fill the gap.”

Defiant in face of downturn

BUSINESSES are remaining resilient, despite the difficult conditions they face, MP Andrew Jones said.

“We all know that it is not easy times for business.

“On top of the general economy we have seen the two biggest sectors in the North Yorkshire economy – agriculture and tourism – hard hit by the appalling weather.

“Yet we remain very resilient. You only have to look at the number of companies here today, and the number of people visiting. There is a healthy buzz.”

He told an audience at Yorkshire Business Market: “Since we met here last year we have seem the number of businesses up, employment up, the number of apprentices up and importantly exports up.”

Mayor of Harrogate, Coun Robert Windass, welcomed visitors and exhibitors, with Mr Jones officially declaring the event open.