John Walker in his role as policy chairman reviewed the work of the press, policy and parliamentary team over the last year. He highlighted:
He also highlighted issues for future work of the team including:
- Petition against the rise in National Insurance due this year
- Possible petrol tax rises
John Walker thanked Stephen Alambritis, Head of Public Affairs and Andrew Cave, Head of Policy, for their work over the last year but also thanked members for the important role that they play implementing policy on the ground. He also thanked the teams and members for supporting him in his role as Policy Chairman during his tenure.
John Walker then introduced Stephen Alambritis, Head of Public Affairs. Stephen showed a video montage of FSB media coverage over the last year. Stephen talked about the importance of achieving media coverage in national and local papers, the internet, trade magazines and local broadcast media. He also commented on the impressive coverage of the conference from the BBC and locally in Scotland.
John Walker then invited Dr Antal Szabo of the Hungarian business representative body ERENET to speak. Dr Szabo thanked the FSB for his invitation to speak and spoke about how impressed he was with the position of the UK as the number one place in Europe for setting up a small business. He spoke about problems that small firms in Hungry share with those in the UK such as late payments made by large firms.
John Walker then invited Andrew Cave to speak. Andrew drew attention to the impressive success of the policy team over the last year, most recently, work achieved in Brussels. However he was keen to look to the future and the promises that political Parties have made as a result of the lobbying efforts of the team. He acknowledged that these promises are worthless without continual pressure from local activists. He encouraged members to ensure that all PPCs are given copies of our manifesto. He highlighted that:
- The Conservative Party have promised to make rate relief automatic and have accepted all the recommendations that the FSB has made on furnished holiday lettings.
- The Liberal Democrats have promised to introduce the Post Bank and all of the recommendations that come from the Keep Trade Local campaign.
- The current Labour Government has today agreed to consult on pre-packs and to slash the beer tie.
John Walker ended the session with a final thank you to the policy committee for their hard work this year.