Yorkshire firms playing vital part in Britain’s turnaround

Addressing The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards, Iain Duncan Smith told the audience: “It is you that has created the life around you, not somebody else, so my thanks to you.”

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said the event was a “night of celebration, of the best entrepreneurs, the best employers, exporters and manufacturers and more”.

He told the nominees that they exemplified the “incredible enterprising and inventive spirit that makes Britain really great”.

“Remember it is here and around cities like this that the great powerhouse of the industrial revolution (started),” he said.

“I would like to think what we are doing tonight is celebrating the future generation as well that are going to take us into that next revolution where Britain will once again bestride the world in economic terms like a colossus.

“My congratulations to all of you who have won awards because you thoroughly deserve it.”

Mr Duncan Smith dismissed as “nonsense” the claim that London was driving the economic recovery and thanked Yorkshire businesses for their “vital part” in turning around the country’s fortunes. He added: “Britain will only be great again if all in our society – every disadvantaged group, every deprived community – are part of our nation’s prosperity.

“Since coming into office, it has been this belief that has underpinned my programme of welfare reform, arguably the most significant in a generation.”

The prestigious event brought together a wide cross section of Yorkshire’s business community, ranging from fast-growing technology start-ups to corporate giants.

Justin Webb, the BBC journalist and Today programme presenter, hosted the ceremony at The Queens hotel in Leeds.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Webb said: “It really does bring it home to you when you meet people who are running companies, particularly the small companies, the sense of excitement about winning an award, the sense of enthusiasm and the sense of optimism about the future and, of course, all of it providing jobs. I think that’s really impressive.”

Jeremy Clifford, Editor of The Yorkshire Post, said the annual awards highlight “the incredible breadth and strength” of the region’s business community.

He told the audience: “Some of our region’s leading firms have been in the same family for generations, while others started out on a kitchen table, or as a flash of inspiration in the lab at one of our outstanding universities.”

Mr Clifford thanked main sponsors, DLA Piper, Goldman Sachs, PwC and Yorkshire Bank, and associate sponsors, Bradford University School of Management, Drax, Elevation Recruitment, QBE Insurance and thebigword group.

The judging panel was made up of Juliette Healey of the Bank of England, David Spicer of Bradford University School of Management, Jonathan Procter of DLA Piper, Andrew Devonald of PwC, Paul Grace of Yorkshire Bank and Bernard Ginns of The Yorkshire Post.