Ed Davey urges Government to back Cambridgeshire’s businesses in visit to St Neots manufacturer with local MP
Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Ed Davey, has called on the Government to stand up to Trump’s bullying tactics in a visit to local businesses in St Neots this week.
Visiting St Neots on the 15th April alongside MP for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire, Ian Sollom, Ed met with local businesses to hear how the Government’s policies and wider global politics are hurting them.
Sir Ed met with Jack Miers, Managing Director of manufacturing company Miers Construction Products Ltd., a fourth-generation family firm based in St Neots. Miers produces foam and specialist materials for the automotive industry – mainly for Range Rover – and exports all over the world, including to the United States.
Cambridgeshire’s businesses are not only at risk from US tariffs but are facing increased costs from the rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions, business rates and energy bills. The Liberal Democrats are campaigning for the jobs tax to be scrapped, reform of the business rates system and cutting red tape for trade by negotiating a new customs union between the UK and EU.
Miers’ Managing Director, Jack, told Ed and Ian that the firm is already facing a shockingly sharp National Insurance hike of nearly £45,000 per year.
Liberal Democrat research shows that the average worker in Huntingdonshire is set to lose £3,000 over the next five years due to the jobs tax rise, approximately £600 a year.
With just over two weeks until local elections across the country, part of the party leader’s visit also focused on meeting activists, council candidates and the party’s mayoral candidate, Lorna Dupre. The Liberal Democrats gained three seats in Cambridgeshire in last year’s general election, building momentum following previous victories in local elections in South Cambridgeshire and Cambridgeshire.
Towards the end of the visit, Ed and Ian spent time knocking on doors in the Priory Park area of St Neots to speak with residents about the upcoming elections.
Ed said: “It’s great to visit Ian in his St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency and to meet local people and businesses. Companies such as Miers are key to the UK’s economic growth but at every turn the Labour Government is hitting these businesses and preventing them from growing. We should be encouraging and backing our small and medium-sized businesses – they are the lifeblood of the economy.
“And when it comes to the tariffs by the United States, the Government needs to stand up to Trump and that means standing tough with our allies against his bullying. Liberal Democrats are calling for the Prime Minister to create a coalition of the willing with our Commonwealth and European partners against Trump’s tariffs, using retaliatory tariffs where necessary and signing new trade deals with each other where possible.”
Ian said: “These local elections are a chance to elect more strong local Lib Dem champions who will put their local community first.
“International issues like Trump’s tariffs don’t just affect big corporates in London - they are having a real impact on businesses right here in St Neots and across Cambridgeshire. That’s why the Government need to show they take it seriously for enterprises here too and back our Buy British campaign.
“The combined effect of the jobs tax hike, broken business rates and now these tariffs can be devastating. Liberal Democrats across Cambridgeshire are working hard to put community interests first and make things fairer, and in these local elections people have a chance to vote for more local champions who will make a real difference.”