Vince Cable meets Chelmsford business people

12.00.00am GMT Fri 13th Nov 2009

Vince Cable MP, Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor, with Stephen Robinson

Dr Vince Cable, Liberal Democrats deputy leader and Shadow Chancellor, has been hearing about the concerns of businesses in Chelmsford. Dr Cable was in Chelmsford to meet local business people together with local Lib Dem candidate Stephen Robinson.

Local business people were keen to hear from him how the Liberal Democrats would help them get Britain out of recession and to tell him how the current economic climate is affecting small and medium sized businesses in Chelmsford.

Those attending the meeting included a land surveyor, the MD of a skills development company, a restaurateur, a management consultant, an engineering importer and others.

Stephen Robinson, who is bidding to be Chelmsford's next MP, commented: "The business people present raised a number of key issues and concerns with Vince and there was a valuable discussion amongst the attendees. Vince was particularly interested to hear strong support for the business advice agencies at regional level, which is under threat from the Conservatives."

Issues raised included some big businesses hurting small ones by not paying their bills on time, making cash-flow very difficult. Alongside that, small businesses miss out on tenders as work goes to larger corporations as one big contract, with smaller, more flexible companies passed over.

Added Stephen Robinson, "Everyone is aware that life for smaller businesses is going to remain tough over the coming months and that difficult decisions will have to be made. However, Liberal Democrats are clear that the nation's future growth will come from small and medium sized companies so it is vital that sound businesses are given the support they need."