Our #empowerindependents campaign meets MP Justin Tomlinson

Our campaign to #empowerindepdents took us to Swindon today where our MD, Nick Summers and Head of Marketing, Roxy Bentley met with Justin Tomlinson after NCASS member, James from Gurt Wings sent the MP for North Swindon our MP letter template.

Justin Tomlison was more than happy to meet with us to discuss tax reform for hospitality businesses as set out in our campaign, letters to the Chancellor and discussions with the Minister for Hospitality. Justin has been supporting James Mitchell from Gurt Wings for a number of years and before becoming an MP worked in the leisure and entertainment industry running clubs and a marketing agency promoting club nights and music events.

Justin agreed that is a better way of approaching tax for small independent hospitality businesses and highlighted that the living wage increase has also impacted the cost of operating crisis. We have a range of next steps to take now which we share with you in the coming weeks, however, this meeting highlighted the importance of contacting and communicating with our MPs. Their constituents are at the heart of their work and so we should make sure that we are taking advantage of the position they hold in parliament by opening up dialogue and sharing the challenges businesses are facing.

We have created a template email for you to send to your MP that outlines the #empowerindependents campaign and the tax reforms that will support our sector. To get the template and write to your MP, click here.

If you have any questions about the template or how to contact your MP please email [email protected]

If you would like to introduce us to your MP so that we can meet with them please email [email protected]

‘Being part of NCASS means that you have a voice. We want to #empowerindependents and to shout as loudly as possible about the challenges facing our industry, we need to hear from you. We are in this together and the more you talk to us the more chance we have to create real change for you. Do not suffer in silence, we are here to advocate for you so get your views heard in government – please support our campaign so we can support you.’
Nick Summers, NCASS MD