
Almost everywhere you look, Faversham and Mid Kent is teeming with brilliant businesses who we could be doing more to help grow.
In never ceases to amaze me how many diverse businesses we have locally. From farms to foundries, health tech to rocket manufacturers. Possibly the only thing they have in common is how tough they've found the last few years. Brexit uncertainty, covid, and inflation have given businesses lots to think about besides expanding.
But now we're heading out the other side, we've got to start to get businesses thinking about growing again.
Taking that next step can often be a challenge - whether it’s barriers to trade, changes to local and national policy, or finding the right skills. I want to work to help bridge these gaps, with support from our local councils and government ministers. When I was a minister in the Treasury I spent a huge amount of time looking at this, and how getting it right leads to more jobs and a stronger local economy.
In the coming weeks I'm going to be surveying businesses locally about the barriers they're facing - but in the meantime I'd love to hear from you if you've got something specific I could be doing to help.