Vince Cable: Local Media Allowing Small Businesses to Access Government Funding

Vince Cable has said that regional newspapers’ involvement in the Regional Growth Fund is allowing funds to reach fledgling businesses which might otherwise not have been to access the cash.

Speaking at a Newspaper Conference lunch this week, the Business Secretary said he had been “overwhelmed” by the enthusiasm of small businesses in Plymouth for the RGF scheme there, in which the Western Morning News is heavily involved.

Chaired by Northcliffe Media’s Nick Lester, the lunch was an opportunity for regional newspaper lobby journalists to exclusively quiz Dr Cable on a variety of issues. 

The Business Secretary spoke about regional newspapers’ important role in boosting local businesses, citing the examples of the Liverpool Echo and Western Morning News’ involvement in the distribution of Regional Growth Fund cash to SMEs.

“One of the projects in the Regional Growth Fund that we are most proud of and is really making waves is the Plymouth project for SMEs which I think the Western Morning News is heavily involved in alongside Plymouth University,” Dr Cable said.

“When I went down to Plymouth three weeks back I was absolutely overwhelmed by the incredible enthusiasm from the local business community, dozens of small companies have been indentified to be given practical help in a way that a big organisation like central Government or the RDA based in Bristol, as was, would never have never have been able to access.”

“It was the networks of the local media which made all that possible,” he added. At least four regional daily newspapers including The Journal and Birmingham Post are involved in RGF schemes in their areas.

Dr Cable described contact with regional newspaper journalists on visits to the regions as “immensely valuable” and said that he wanted “to acknowledge the importance of regional journalists.”

“More generally, I’ve learned over the years just how important regional media are,” Dr Cable said, recalling the persistence and “daily calls” from The Journal’s political editor William Green at the time of the Northern Rock crisis in 2007.

“His newspaper and the Tyneside comment played an incredibly important role in framing the debate which bubbled up from the bottom,” Dr Cable said.

He went on to describe the importance of regional and local newspapers at the start of his political career as a councillor in Glasgow. “Having access to local media and regional media was incredibly powerful and enabled me to do a lot of things,” he said.

He spoke to regional newspaper journalists about a number of issues including the Government’s strategy for rebalancing the British economy, the progress of RGF projects, and Local Enterprise Partnerships.