Minister for Small Business visits Bristol

Paul Scully, Minister for Small Business visited Bristol on Thursday 16 June to hear more about the challenges faced by local business and the work taking place to support them. 

Image: Cameron Cheek, Bristol City Council’s Markets and Estates Operations Manager,  Paul Scully, Minister for Small Business, Councillor Nicola Beech, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Strategic Planning, Resilience and Floods, and Kathryn Davis, Visit West’s Director of Tourism.

The Minister, together with Councillor Nicola Beech, joined discussions about combatting the sale of illegal tobacco in the city, enterprise and decarbonisation across South Wales and Western England, and the recovery of St Nick’s Market traders following the pandemic.

Paul Scully MP met with Bristol Trading Standards Service to hear about the illegal tobacco trade in Bristol and the wider region, and activities countering rogue builders and tradesmen, helping to protect consumers and support legitimate businesses and the local economy. 

Discussions included the challenges of enforcement, the scale of the problem and types of businesses involved, methods of concealment and size of shipments, and an overview of prosecution outcomes and other successes.

He then joined a roundtable hosted by the Western Gateway Partnership with businesses from across South Wales and Western England to talk about the innovative local work going on across the area to decarbonise to reach Net Zero and the problems businesses face accessing funding.

The Minister’s visit concluded with a tour of St Nick’s Market where he was also joined by Kathryn Davis, Visit West’s Director of Tourism. 

With responsibility for small business, covering retail and hospitality, the Minister met with different business owners within St Nick’s market to learn more about their business and to understand their journey and challenges they face. 

Councillor Nicola Beech, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Strategic Planning, Resilience and Floods, said “We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Small Business to Bristol and to have the opportunity to discuss some of the important work going on in the council and across our city. We highlighted some of the challenges we face, discussed the measures we have in place to support business and the wider economy, and shared some of our success stories following two exceptionally challenging years for our businesses.” 

Business Minister Paul Scully said: “It was fantastic to be in Bristol to see first-hand the work that is going on across the region to help unlock growth and drive investment.

“Whether it’s harnessing innovation to cut emissions, improving connectivity between local communities or rooting out illegal business practices, this is all critical to our ambition of levelling up the UK. I look forward to continuing to work with the best and brightest across the South West to achieve this.”

Councillor Toby Savage, Leader of South Gloucestershire Council and Vice-Chair of the Western Gateway Partnership, said: “Our area is also home to a vibrant community of small and mid-sized businesses. It was a pleasure to be able to host local business leaders today as they outlined their plans for growth to the Minister and explained why the Western Gateway area is ready to harness local innovation.”