What More UK hosted a visit from Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party and Lisa Nandy, the shadow secretary of state for levelling up at its manufacturing site in Altham this week (February 15).
The visitors spent several hours at What More, taking a full tour of the whole operation. They spoke with interest to many What More colleagues as part of a fact-finding tour to discuss building the prosperity of Britain through manufacturing, among other goals.
Sir Keir and Lisa sought the views of a range of different employees, including ex apprentices, current apprentices and engineers in What More’s state of the art machine shop. The Labour leader showed particular interest in the latter; his father was a toolmaker and his is very familiar with British manufacturing.
“During the visit we underlined that manufacturing isn’t a political issue, but a national necessity and as such, should expect cross party concentration and cross-party support,” explains company director Tony Grimshaw OBE. “Sir Keir listened to this comment and was very interested to see what we do here and speak to lots of different team members.”
Tony reflects: “The buzz from colleagues was tangible, all walking around with a spring in their step and a smile on their faces!”
Sir Keir has stated: “We, the Labour Party have got a package of £28 billion a year on the next generation of jobs. We want a buy, make and sell policy in Britain which means jobs will be local, and we want to deal with business rates and making our high streets thrive again. Levelling up will only happen if the scale of the plan matches the ambition of people.”
Top: Tony Grimshaw of What More, Lisa Nandy MP, Sir Keir Starmer and Andy Holt of What More.
