MP meets small business leaders
Published 30 Jun 2011 07:30
"LOOK at Neil Armstong, not Wayne Rooney" was the message from Bracknell's MP in a discussion with business leaders about the area's economic future.
Dr Phillip Lee talked about the need for young people to receive a sound education, work hard and not become indebted through unnecessary spending when spoke at a breakfast meeting organised by the east Berkshire branch of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
Dr Lee said: "Most people nowadays don't want to discover DNA - they want to be Cheryl Cole. They seem to value the ability to kick a football into a net more than design something. I don't want Wayne Rooney inspiring any future son of mine - I want Neil Armstrong inspiring any future son of mine."
He added the country needs more people trained in science, maths and engineering to develop niches creating high-end goods and innovations from space studies to compete with Europe and emerging markets.
In the meeting at Bracknell and Wokingham College's Church Road building in Bracknell on Friday, Dr Lee said: "People seem to forget that we need to make money as a country. There are enough jobs round here for everybody to be employed."
He predicted a "tough decade" in order to reduce the country's debts and defended cuts to public sector pensions set when life expectancies were lower, telling the group: "If we don't have that in the public sector, we are going to have higher taxes, which will impact on your businesses and affect your ability to create wealth."
In Bracknell, he said he would be keen to see some of the big businesses strengthen their links with smaller business and suggested holding an annual get-together.
Those at the meeting also discussed the need for more small business units, as the trend may be for more people to work from home or in their communities.
Dr Lee said this would ease the pressure to build houses on greenfield site. "Maybe we should lay waste to parts of our industrial estates and build houses on them because maybe they won't be needed in the future," he added.
Dr Lee also stressed the importance of high-speed broadband in the area and suggested a business-funded rail link from Bracknell to Maidenhead to connect with Crossrail and Heathrow.
David Knowles-Leak, chairman of Thames Valley FSB, said: "We'd like to have a meeting like this everywhere in the Thames Valley so MPs can hear the issues that our members are interested in and affect small businesses and we can hear what the perspective of the MPs is."
Richard Knight, vice-chairman of the FSB in East Berkshire, said it is helpful to increase understanding between small businesses and MPs and said: "The whole idea of the meeting is to do it on an on-going basis."
The next meeting is due to be on Friday, January 20 at the college. Contact Mr Knight on 07798632173.
This article appeared in Villager 05 Aug 11
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