Labour MP for Rossendale and Darwen, Andrew MacNae visited My Total Office Solutions in Rossendale to hear about the challenges faced by small businesses.
The Keep It Local campaign was launched in 2019 by Nemo Office Club who recognised that smaller independent businesses are often discriminated against when competing against multi-nationals and identified the benefits to local economies and communities if more people kept it local when making buying decisions.
Nemo Office Club has contacted the local MP of every member on their behalf, calling on support and inviting them to the members premises to discuss the issues facing small businesses. “We know from previous conversations that there is support from MPs for Keep It Local,”explained group managing director, Tim Beaumont. “We wanted to find a way to turn that into a tangible benefit to our members, and that involved putting in the leg work and sending personalised invites to each and every member’s MP.
Managing director of My Total Office Solutions, Darren Turner, was delighted with the visit: “The Keep It Local campaign is excellent for raising awareness of the challenges we face and drumming up support for local business. The visit from our local MP demonstrates the support behind the campaign and it was fantastic to be able to discuss the issues in person.
“The recent government changes to employer national increase, and the further substantial increase in wages, means we have to find an additional £30,000 next year, just to keep the lights on. This cannot come from price increases alone, we have to win substantially more local business contracts, and for that we need help from our local leaders in the form of connections and introductions to help achieve the needed growth. Andy was keen to help, listened and came up with some good suggestions, and agreed to connect us to the right contacts within our local council and towns to make introductions to the micro and small businesses that we can really help in the local area with our solutions.”
Top: Managing director of My Office Solutions, Darren Turner (left) with Labour MP Andrew McNae.
