Sheffield Chamber Comment on General Election Result

8th May 2015

Commenting on today's (May 8) general election result, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Sheffield Chamber executive director Richard Wright, said: -Sheffield Chamber noted the election results with interest.

It congratulated the Conservatives on achieving an overall majority and re-iterated the messages put out over the last few weeks by the British Chambers of Commerce to whoever had been successful in getting elected. The BCC is apolitical and recognises it must work at all levels and make the strong economic arguments to whoever is in power. It will always try to do that in a constructive way and as a critical friend. -Locally we are disappointed we have no local MP in the Government for obvious reasons. We have worked well with all our MPs and will continue to do so in the future. They are strong advocates of the city. -The Chamber's major concern is around the "union", and membership of Europe. The results of the election project an SNP Scotland, a DUP Northern Ireland, a Labour Wales and a Conservative England. MPs from all parties will need to work hard to ensure this does not lead to massive disruption, and objectives focused too much around vested interests, or we sense a real challenge to the union. -Feedback at the time of the devolution election in Scotland clearly indicated that a significant majority of businesses support the UK as an entity and membership of Europe, albeit they recognise that some changes are desirable, including the move towards more devolved powers. -There will be a big responsibility on MPs of all parties to ensure this happens.