A view from Wrexham’s Member of Parliament

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Members of Parliament and Assembly Members to write a monthly article with updates on their work in their respective Parliaments and closer to home – you can find them all here.

Today, Wrexham’s MP Sarah Atherton writes…

The last month has seen a big focus on economic issues, with The Budget announced, trade deals secured, and tariffs reduced with some of our biggest trading partners. My office and I have also spent a lot of time in the last month dealing with issues experienced by local businesses exporting into the European Union, and I would encourage any businesses in Wrexham that are experiencing difficulties to make contact with me so that I can represent you in conversations with the UK Government.

Earlier in February, it was announced that the UK and India had agreed an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) which, aside from boosting trade more generally, will provide a specific boost to Wockhardt, where the UK-made Covid vaccine is being finished by creating an additional 40 jobs. It also included the extension of the contract with the UK Government for the ‘fill and finish’ of the Covid vaccine by six months, taking Wockhardt’s involvement to August 2022.

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This positive news was further bolstered last week when it was announced that retaliatory tariffs imposed by the US on EU goods would now be suspended pending a free trade agreement. This means that goods manufactured here will be cheaper for consumers in the United States, thereby increasing sales. The tariffs, imposed a couple of years ago, led to a drop of several billion pounds worth of goods sales, meaning that manufacturers here became poorer. This is why free trade is so important – it reduced prices for everybody thereby giving us more money in our pockets.

In Wrexham, the announcement will be of particular importance to several businesses. Trade in manufacturing goods had been hit by the tariffs, impacting the £61 million (in 2018) worth of exports from the UK to the USA in this sector. For JCB Transmissions here in Wrexham, for example, this announcement on UK-USA trade therefore bodes well for the future and will hopefully allow for further growth. The de-escalation of the aerospace dispute will also be of great benefit to Airbus in Broughton, which I am sure will be felt here in Wrexham.

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Then came to UK Government’s Budget. I know that businesses and individuals alike watched with interest to see how things such as furlough, self employed income support scheme and stamp duty holidays would be handled. I was pleased to see all of them extended until the summer, giving people here some deal of certainty for the remaining period of lockdown. I was particularly delighted with the freezing of beer duty. As a former brewer, I have seen first-hand the difference a small variation in this tax can have on your business. I worked with the Campaign for Real Ale and the Long Live The Local Campaign to lobby the Government and make sure that this duty didn’t increase, so this was a fantastic result.

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On a far more local note, it was a huge privilege to attend the Marjorie Dykins OBE Volunteer Memorial Awards, hosted by local charity AVOW. My congratulations go to Anna Buckley, for her work with the Polish Integrated Support Sector, and the Wrexham Prostate Cancer Support Group for their awards. A huge well done and thank you should go to all the other nominees, all of whom have made Wrexham a better place
As always, if there is anything I can do to support Wrexham residents please don’t hesitate to contact me on the details below:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 2719 4885 | 01978 291742
Post: Office of Sarah Atherton MP, 65 Regent Street, Wrexham, LL11 1PF

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Welsh and UK Parliament representatives to write a monthly article with updates on their work and closer to home – you can find them all here.