On Friday 22 March, businesses from across Milton Keynes met with Iain Stewart MP for a roundtable discussion hosted by the Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce to reflect on the recent Spring Budget and the current economic climate.

The roundtable hosted at Santander’s Unity Place brought together many different sectors, ranging from multinationals to sole traders.

The diverse range of attendees included: KPMG, British Standards Institute, Open University, Aiimi and SHOCAL, all providing valuable insight to the local MP about the opportunities and challenges their industry are currently facing.

Sean Rose, Head of Policy and Representation at the Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce, said “It was clear from all the firms represented at this roundtable that there are still real challenges that are holding back business growth.

“From a difficult economic backdrop with high interest rates being maintained, a tight labour market and imports being held up with the challenges in the Red Sea.

“These roundtables are an excellent opportunity for our members to put their concerns and thoughts directly to elected officials.“

Iain Stewart, Milton Keynes South MP said “I was pleased to be able to talk to businesses from my constituency about the recent announcement from the Prime Minister on backing small businesses to access more apprenticeships.

“SME’s need skilled people to help them to meet orders and grow and apprenticeships are a great way of getting talent into businesses learning and earning.

“These types of roundtables with local businesses are useful for me to get a feel for how firms are feeling and feed this back into government departments – particularly to the Chancellor just after a large fiscal event like the Budget.”

The Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce are there to support businesses of all sizes to achieve a range of goals. Any Milton Keynes-based business can be a Member of the Chamber and benefit by clicking here: www.chambermk.co.uk