Speaking on the Labour leaders visit to Great Yarmouth today, Norfolk Chamber CEO Caroline Williams said:
“Ed Miliband was in Great Yarmouth today presenting the second of what labour said were their five key pledges for next year’s general election relating to immigration.
It did give me the opportunity of behalf of Norfolk Chamber members to ask a question which was in two parts. The first part was to ask for reassurance the road and rail infrastructure funding committed by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement would be honoured to assist in the connectivity of Great Yarmouth. Although Mr Miliband did confirm that Great Yarmouth needed better connectivity he did not give, in my opinion, an adequate assurance that a Labour Government would fully honour these commitments. I will therefore follow up with a formal request for reassurance as we have been led to believe that improved infrastructure for Norfolk has cross party support.
The second part of the question was to ask what support he would give to the energy sector so important to create the needed jobs in Great Yarmouth. Although Mr Miliband’s answer included a policy statement about Climate Change, he did confirm the Labour party’s commitment to renewable energy in particular offshore wind. This statement will be followed up by us on key areas of concern that we have relating to the local energy sector and to establish Labour’s positioning on these.
Mr Miliband answered many questions on the NHS, housing, benefits and immigration but there were only a couple of questions from business, maybe that was because there were very few businesses in the room and I would suspect there were few businesses invited. It is essential that business has the opportunity to influence all parties’ agendas as we move swiftly towards May 2015. Although businesses do not have the vote, it does not mean that we do not have a voice as in the end it is business that drives the economy and creates jobs whichever party is in power.
Ed Miliband showed great passion on the stage, now we need to ensure that he becomes passionate about Norfolk and fully understands our needs. We will follow up his visit to Great Yarmouth with direct correspondence with Mr Miliband and through the British Chambers of Commerce.
Within the last three weeks, Norfolk Chamber and its members have been able to have one to one conversations in Norfolk, with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, Secretary of State for Business and Innovation& Skills, Vince Cable MP, Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband and the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick Mcloughlin. Norfolk has become more visible and we need to ensure that we maximize this opportunity to make our requirements as a business community heard loud and clear.
The Norfolk Chamber’s theme for 2014 and 2015 is ‘Look at Norfolk. See Success’ I feel we are definitely starting to make our Westminster politicians understand the great potential that we have here in Norfolk.
