Mel Stride MP met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid last week and described the challenges faced by high street traders in his constituency in the face of increasing online competition. During his time as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel played a key role in reducing business rates for small and medium-sized businesses by a third and urged the Chancellor to consider further reductions. Giving the example of Bovey Tracey, Mel argued that the fortunes of our small market towns are tied strongly to the success of our local traders.
Mr Stride explained:
“Central Devon has some wonderful market towns but trading conditions are not easy. I recently had conversations on this issue in Bovey Tracey. Every year that passes sees a small demographic shift from older generations who are more likely to browse their local shops towards younger people who do most of their shopping online. If we want our market towns like Bovey to thrive, local businesses need to be competitive and continuing to reduce business rates is one way we can achieve this.”
Mr Stride started his own business from scratch and ran it successfully for more than 20 years before being elected to Parliament at the age of 48 in 2010. His entrepreneurial background has made him a valuable contributor in Westminster on business issues and this experience led to him serving as the third-highest ranking minister in HM Treasury for two years until June this year.
