Scott Mann has backed calls by the CLA (Country Land & Business Association) to ensure that the Government’s Industrial Strategy and the 25-year Plan for Food and Farming unlock the investment potential of the countryside.
Scott and fellow Cornish MP, Steve Double, pledged their support at the CLA’s Rural Business Conference in Westminster, which was attended by more than 400 rural business owners who were given sight of new research commissioned by the CLA which revealed that landowning businesses in rural England and Wales – 96% of which are family businesses – are currently investing more than £13 billion a year, and there is potential for this figure to increase.
It also painted an optimistic picture about the future with more than 80% of landowning rural businesses planning to make investments for business resilience and growth.
The CLA, which represents 32,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses in England and Wales, is urging Government to set out a new tax roadmap for family businesses, to finish the job of reforming the planning system, and undertake regulatory changes that allow more rural businesses to enter into new markets such as supplying broadband and energy to local customers.
Scott Mann said:
“I support the CLA’s call for the Government to ensure that its policies unlock the potential of the countryside. Throughout my constituency I see innovative and successful rural businesses that have the potential to grow and make further investments into the local economy.
"Our economy can be part of new trade deals once we leave the EU, and being part of an industrial strategy is key to do that as well as to unlock more growth domestically."
CLA South West Regional Director John Mortimer said:
“Rural landowning businesses are at the heart of the rural economy and I am delighted that Scott was able to show his support for rural business at the CLA’s Rural Business Conference and I look forward to working with him to ensure rural businesses in North Cornwall are at the heart of both the industrial strategy and 25 year plan for food and farming.”