Businesses meet with Dame Rosie Winterton MP at chamber event to discuss the issues that matter most to them

The themes explored here ranged from the ever-pertinent topic of Net Zero to how we must focus on rejuvenating our city centre, local & national government procurement, and the importance of making sure that the region’s private and public sectors are properly joined-up, so that they can both unlock their full potential.

The session was open to Chamber members in Dame Rosie’s Doncaster Central constituency, and featured representation from across a diverse number of industries.

As was similarly the case at this month’s Ed Miliband roundtable (as well as recent sessions with Nick Fletcher MP) delegates were afforded a unique opportunity to engage directly with their political representative and had a chance to raise any concerns that they think ought to be on their radar.

Not to mention, they were also able to ask their burning questions and learn more about the Labour Party’s vision for the future.

The ensuing debate sparked a lot of interesting discussion and even generated some new ideas, all of which will help inform how Dame Rosie represents her constituency going forward.

Indeed, now that she is equipped with the insights from this session, she will be able to more authentically speak on behalf of the local business community and can use her platform to deliver the changes they want to see.

The MP roundtable took place on Friday the 26th of January and was kindly hosted by The Earl of Doncaster Hotel.

Reflecting back on it, Dan Fell, Chief Exec of Doncaster Chamber, said: “As always, we are grateful to Dame Rosie for so generously giving up her time to meet with our members and for listening to what they have to say.

“Spanning a wide range of topics, the session was enlightening and gave us a much-needed, fresh perspective on what currently matters most to the business community in Doncaster. We hope that Rosie found it to be just as useful as we did and that she will now be working hard to amplify the voices of those who joined us around the table. On that note, I would also like to thank our attendees for their candour and participation in the event, as well as The Earl of Doncaster Hotel who kindly hosted us for the morning.

“These roundtables are incredibly important as, not only do they apprise MPs of what businesses are thinking right now, but they also help shape our own activities here at the Chamber. Indeed, we will be using the insights from this session, as well as from the ones with Doncaster’s other MPs, to inform the creation of our upcoming Business Manifesto, which will itself outline a more progressive vision for our city in 2024 and beyond.”

Dame Rosie Winterton added: “It was an extremely interesting discussion with members of the commerce about local businesses’ views on what action they need from the present and future Governments to support investment in Doncaster, business growth and the overall economic situation. We’re lucky to have such innovative businesses in Doncaster but they need strong, strategic support from Government to thrive, expand, and in many cases, export.”

Doncaster Chamber regularly convenes roundtables like this, with two per year set aside for each of our city’s MPs. Earlier this month, Ed Miliband met with businesses in his Doncaster North constituency and there is yet another event on the horizon for Nick Fletcher, MP for Don Valley, that is scheduled for April.

In addition to this, all three Doncaster MPs (including Dame Rosie Winterton) will be coming together under one roof in May for a “Question Time” event. As the name suggests, this will see them all sitting together on a panel to field questions from a crowd of Doncaster Chamber members. More information about this can be found here.