Steve Brine spoke at the (now-annual) Winchester Chamber/BID business breakfast, held at the Winchester Hotel on Friday 20th January.
For the second year running, the Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP spoke to business leaders from across the city at the networking event held by the local Chamber of Commerce and the Business Improvement District.
After much discussion over bacon and eggs, Steve was able to focus on a range of topics, local and national, and take some soundings about trading in Winchester as well as discussing his work in Westminster.
The MP was keen to pay tribute to the head of BID, Professor Chris Turner, and praised its continuing success.
As well as covering their joint work over the current High Street market, he also spoke passionately about the future of our Farmers Market.
Steve also set out much of the work he has been doing in Parliament over the past year, covering the Green Deal and the opportunities it holds for excellent local organisations such as GreenWin, and the current wrangle over the Port of Southampton, where he is working cross-party with fellow Hampshire MPs.
Speaking just after 9am, on his way to a key Parliamentary vote, he said: "This is the only day in the year I am guaranteed a breakfast, so it really is inked into the diary in bold type! Seriously, this is a fantastic event and it is so important for me to be able to chat with our diverse business community, and equally it is just as important for them to share feedback with me and each other.
"It was great to be able to discuss a whole host of upcoming initiatives promoting growth, such as the business rate retention scheme, the new National Loan Guarantee Scheme to get cheaper loans to businesses, new £1bn Business Finance Partnership fund to invest in SME's through non-bank channels, a new industry taskforce to help businesses diversify their finance and the Mentors Me programme which connects companies with mentoring organisations that can support and guide business growth.
"I hope that everyone enjoyed the session and took as much out of it as I did, and I am really looking forward to working with the Chamber and BID throughout 2012."
Pictured; Steve addresses members of the Chamber and BID at the annual Parliamentary breakfast
More information...
Check out the Dept. of Business, Innovation & Skills at www.bis.gov.uk, and find out more about Mentors Me at www.mentorsme.co.uk.
