Lord Mandelson talks to MyGarston News

Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce were joined by a special guest at a recent networking breakfast to reassure local businesses concerning the current economic crisis. Secretary of State for Business, Lord Peter Mandelson, joined representatives from businesses throughout Watford, West Herts and the surrounding areas at the YMCA Centre in Charter Place to discuss “green seedlings” and the future of the economy. MP for Watford Clare Ward said a few words before introducing Lord Mandelson, highlighting the fact that Watford has a “vibrant business community” and that despite unemployment going up, the town was still below the national average. Introducing Lord Mandelson she said: “We should be working together at local and national level. There is an enormous strength of expertise in Watford, but sometimes you need help from the Government. I am delighted to have Lord Mandelson attend this event as he has enormous expertise.” No sooner was his name mentioned, Lord Mandelson took to the stage to a chorus of generous applause. On taking to the stand, he said: “It’s nice to be back in Watford as I feel it is important as Business Minister to talk to and meet people like you.” His first task was to try and reassure those in attendance that the Government was doing it all it can to try and get the country out of the predicament that it finds itself in. He said: “The Chancellor suggested that we may turn the corner by the end of the year. I see green seedlings being planted and lets hope we can climb back. The Government had a clear choice, sit back, sit on our hands and let the recession take its cause, or fight back to limit the recession. I make no apologies for the choice to fight back.” Lord Mandelson then went onto speak to the 137 members of the audience about employment, the budget and then took questions from the floor. He concluded his talk by saying: “It is tough. We are coming through it and we must be confident about the future. You cant do it yourselves but together we can make a hell of a difference.” Shortly after Lord Mandelson came off stage, My News was able to grab an EXCLUSIVE interview, albeit quick, with the Shadow Minister for Business. You mentioned in your talk that entrepreneurs and new businesses should be encouraged to get their ideas up and running. Is now a good time to be starting up from scratch? People should be looking to the upturn and beyond and in a sense a recession is a good time to organise yourself, reduce your cost base and make sure you are in good, efficient order. They should embrace the upturn when it comes. My message is look to the future, prepare for the upturn, organise yourself well and in the most cost efficient way because that is how you will succeed in the future. You mentioned that the Government cannot do it all. What can businesses do to help themselves? I would like to see local businesses networking and helping each other. Collaboration between businesses is as important as businesses competing against each other and where there are opportunities to help each other they should do this. And how about local people? What can they do to support local businesses? Think local and shop local. There will be local bargains as well as a chance to give business locally, which will help their employees and your neighbours, who in turn will be doing more to spend money on local businesses and services, making everyone better off. Finally, what reassurances can we give to local businesses that are searching for a light at the end of a very dark tunnel? Most people think that the worst of this recession is behind us, but that doesn’t mean we have completely turned the corner. You are seeing the housing market stabilised, you are seeing bank lending growing and you are seeing exporters taking advantage of the more competitive value of the pound. So these are all very important and positive straws in the wind. What we must do is stop talking ourselves down. Of course there is difficulty and of course there is pain, but that does not mean we should be pessimistic. Let’s spot the opportunities, go for them and do it together as a country.

 

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