Oral Answers to Questions

Sheryll Murray Excerpts

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con)]

12. What progress he has made on meeting the Government’s ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

14. What progress he has made on meeting the Government’s ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

Our business environment is among the best in the world for small businesses. We have 16.3 million people employed in small businesses and the British Business Bank is supporting small businesses with over £5.5 billion of finance—and colleagues on all sides of the House will wish to support small business Saturday on 1 December.

[Mrs Murray]

Earlier this year, Ideal Foods, a small business in my constituency, celebrated a huge milestone when it achieved a turnover of £10 million in just one year. Another business, the Cornish Cheese Company, has just been awarded the super gold award for its Cornish blue cheese. Does my right hon. Friend agree that these are shining examples of the importance of embracing global trade after we leave the European Union?

[Greg Clark]

I do indeed, and I congratulate Ideal Foods and the Cornish Cheese Company. Perhaps I can add one of my own: Cornish Charcuterie, based just outside Bude, is one of my favourites, and I know that it has many satisfied customers across the UK and Europe, and increasingly around the world. This shows that, of all the manifold assets that Cornwall has, its food and indeed its drink are something to boast about.