Staffordshire Chambers’ of Commerce is the voice of business in Staffordshire. As a Chamber, we connect our members with elected political leaders and last week, we met with Leigh Ingham (MP for Stafford), in our latest ‘Meet the MP’ meeting.
Any business can book a 1:1 meeting with an MP but there is a real synergy when we bring businesses together for a round table discussion. It’s also a good opportunity for an MP to meet a diverse mix of businesses from across the constituency.
We opened our meeting with a round table discussion on business confidence. The Autumn Budget saw an announcement that employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and Minimum Living Wage (MLW), will increase from April 2025. Our member businesses have voiced their concerns about these increased costs. Businesses may choose to swallow the cost and cut back on future investment plans, or simply pass on the cost to their customers, creating an inflationary uptick.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation is being rolled out, with the aim of asking producers to meet the costs of managing and recycling the packaging waste they produce. Whilst we recognise the aspirations of EPR in trying to reduce excessive packaging and improve packaging recyclability and reusability, some of our members have expressed fears about the financial impact of EPR and potential damage to future innovation of packaging.
We talked about business rates, with a local award-winning wedding venue reporting a hike of more than 60% in business rates, in the space of just three years. This linked to discussions about how we can drive up footfall in Stafford, with calls for more action to be taken against absentee landlords, who choose to allow their empty commercial premises to become an eyesore and a magnet for criminality and anti social behaviour.
The government is pressing ahead with devolution and we repeated our calls for the local authorities to develop the best possible devolution deal for our region and one which will support business growth.
Delays in turning around planning decisions can serve as a brake on investment aspirations and one of our members told Ms Ingham about how measures can be put in place, which will support local authorities to speed up the process in reaching decisions and create the right conditions to attract inward investment.
We agreed that the opening of an Institute of Technology (IoT) at Newcastle & Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG) Stafford campus, will be a real coup for our County Town. The IOT will connect industry, education and research to jointly design and develop education and training opportunities, which will align to the skills needed by employers, the local, regional and national economy and Government priorities for technical education.
As you can see, we covered a lot of topical debate in the space of just one hour. Ms Ingham said she would be happy to hear from any business within the Stafford constituency, if there are business issues to bring to her attention. She can be reached on:
Watch out for future ‘Meet the MP’ meetings, which could be taking place in the constituency where your business is based! You could have the chance to join your fellow Chamber members and debate the key issues affecting your business.
We meet with Allison Gardner (MP – Stoke on Trent South) on 21.3.25. and Adam Jogee (MP – Newcastle under Lyme) on 9.5.25. You can book your place through our website.
