Minister hears tax and Brexit concerns
18th July 2017

Industry minister Claire Perry MP was told of industry concerns over insurance tax increases and the possible consequences of Brexit on raw materials during a visit to glazing systems supplier Wrightstyle.

The Devizes MP, who is Minister for Climate Change & Industry in the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department, was visiting the locally-based company in response to issues it had raised over recent ‘considerable’ increases in Insurance Tax Premium and their impact on overheads.

She met managing director Tim Kempster, and finance director Jane Embury before touring the warehouse and fabrication areas and meeting other staff.

Jane Embury later said: “Claire Perry hadn’t fully realised the high impact of this tax on SMEs and was interested to hear about it from our perspective.

“We also raised issues about Brexit, advising her of our concerns regarding the supply of raw materials from Europe. We also made her aware that the type of high quality architectural steel that we use in our advanced systems is not available in the UK and certainly not in the Far East, where we have a significant export market.”

She added that “we also discussed R&D on new systems we are currently developing and the difficulties financing this type of work, especially the testing costs.  Claire Perry will advise us on possible R&D funding and tax relief.

“It was a genuinely interesting discussion and I think we both gained some useful insights,”

During her tour, Claire Perry was delighted to see an order being packed for shipment for the Harvard Business School, where she obtained a Master’s in Business Administration in 1990.

Pictured: Claire Perry MP, centre, with Jane Embury and Tim Kempster, and other staff.

www.wrightstyle.co.uk