Richard Harrington welcomes Shadow Business Sec. Ken Clarke

Ken Clarke MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, came to Watford recently to addressed an audience of local business leaders with prospective Conservative MP Richard Harrington.

Mr Clarke, who held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1993 and 1997, spoke at a lunch meeting of the Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce at the Park Inn, St Albans Road.

The big-hitting Tory, MP for Rushcliffe, spoke on a range of subjects from public sector pensions to getting the credit markets working again.

When introducing Mr Clarke, Richard also spoke of his own desire to simplify the complex web of regulations that small businesses have found themselves entangled in over the last 13 years. Speaking from his own experience of running a business Richard said, “If we are to pay for things like our hospitals and schools, the government needs to help businesses generate the wealth that will allow investment to continue. If we continue to choke businesses, before long we won’t be able to afford to make improvements to healthcare and schools.”

Mr Clarke echoed Richard’s sentiments and made clear that any future Conservative government would place itself firmly on the side of small businesses, freeing them from some of the “well meaning but overbearing” regulations they are currently forced to adhere to.

He said: “We’ve got to be the most business friendly government since the war. We will get nowhere unless British business succeeds and we will do our best [to make this happen] if the responsibility is loaded upon us in a few weeks time.”