Scottish Government Business and Trade Minister to meet Chamber members

Scottish Government Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise meeting Chamber members

Fife Chamber is finalising arrangements for a meeting between members and Ivan McKee MSP, the Scottish Government Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise. The meeting with the Minister, one of the most senior in the Scottish Government, will take place on 12^th October, with the precise times and location still to be confirmed.

Commenting on the meeting, Alan Mitchell, Chief Executive of Fife Chamber, said: “Businesses in Fife are facing no end of challenges right now, so this meeting is very timely. Although much of the financial ‘firepower’ required to get firms through the current cost-of-doing-business crisis resides with the UK Government, the Scottish Government still has considerable financial and other resources it could direct productively to helping businesses in Fife get through the difficult months that lie ahead. It is imperative that the Scottish Government understands the full scale and nature of the pressures on business so that they can develop appropriate responses and support packages, and the meeting that our members will have with Mr McKee will let them tell him what challenges they face and what support they expect from the Scottish Government. It’s recently published ‘Programme for Government’ offered little in the way of concrete measures to support business and the economy, and members will expect to hear about much more about decisive support being forthcoming in the coming months.

He added: “The Chamber team recognises the severity of the challenges facing local businesses and we are developing plans for new services and events that will hopefully help them get through these difficult times. While we put our programme together, we will continue to use all our political connections and influence to get national decision makers to Fife to hear first hand what our members are going through. This meeting with the Business Minister is an important part of that, as is our Navigating the Economic Crisis lunch with the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England in November.”

If you would like to know more about the meeting with Ivan McKee or Fife Chamber’s broader public policy advocacy on behalf of Fife’s businesses, email [email protected]. Email [email protected] to book for the Bank of England lunch.