Having spent fifteen years helping small businesses get off the ground before coming to Parliament, and having previously served as a Business Minister on three separate occasions, I am a passionate supporter of Small Business. It is the true engine of our local, and national, economy.

That’s why I relished the chance to walk Watton High Street again with local councillors Claire Bowes and Tina Kiddell this past Friday. As ever, it was great to visit local shops such as Adcocks, Draper and Humphries Antiques and Edwards Newsagents to speak to business owners and staff.

The past few years have been particularly tough for so many of our local small businesses and so it was a valuable opportunity to speak directly with those on our high streets about the challenges and opportunities they currently face. Breckland Council, with their Future Breckland Plan initiative, are doing important work to support our market town high streets (see more here) and, from my regular conversations with ministers and officials, I am reassured that Government takes seriously the concerns of our high street retailers, as well as our SMEs more broadly.

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can to support our local business community.

To find out more about my historic and ongoing work ‘Backing Local Business’, please visit my campaign page here.