24 September 2024
Confor, alongside major forestry and wood businesses, has taken the trees and timber message to Government - by engaging with Forestry Minister Mary Creagh MP and a wide range of ministers and politicians at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Chief Executive Stuart Goodall spoke with Trade Minister Douglas Alexander MP, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP, and Daniel Johnson MSP, the lead on business issues for Labour in the Scottish Parliament, who visited the stand to discuss the opportunities forestry and wood processing can bring for the economy.
Senior staff from James Jones & Sons Ltd, the BSW Group and Scottish Woodlands Ltd joined Confor in briefing Minister Creagh and her Defra colleague, Baroness Hayman, Labour spokesperson on rural affairs in the House of Lords. Emma Hardy MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at Defra, also visited the stand.
Pictured right (RtL): Stuart Goodall & Daniel Johnson MSP.
The conference was also an excellent opportunity to discuss the industry with a range of new MPs, including David Smith and Joe Morris, who won North Northumberland (previously Berwick-upon-Tweed) and Hexham, both important forestry and wood processing constituency.
Mary Foy, MP for City of Durham, also dropped by to speak about the significant investment planned by James Jones & Sons in its Taylormade site in her constituency - and there was also engagement with delegates from Wales, including Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.
Other new MPs who visited the Confor stand, to be pictured with the pledge card to support the forestry and wood industry, included Lee Pitcher, Graeme Downie, Josh Dean, Frank McNally, Kenneth Stevenson, Blair McDougall and Torcuil Crichton. Confor also welcomed Baroness Young of Old Scone, long-term member of Confor’s All-Party Parliamentary Group at Westminster.
Pictured right (RtL): Andrew Henry, David Robertson, David Smith MP, Stuart Goodall & David Leslie.
Confor members James Jones & Sons Ltd (JJS), Scottish Woodlands Ltd (SWL), and BSW Group supported the Confor presence at the conference. They were represented by David Leslie, Joint Managing Director of JJS, David Robertson, Investment & Business Development Director at SWL and Andrew Henry, Nursery Director of Maelor Forest Nurseries, part of the BSW Group.
Stuart Goodall said: "Party conferences are always an excellent way to meet a wide range of politicians - and this is especially important when we have a new Government in power at Westminster.
"Confor and the company representatives had many really important conversations with key politicians about how the industry can support the new UK Government's priorities - particularly around rural economic growth, sustainable house building and timber security.
Pictured right (RtL): Andrew Henry, David Robertson, Stuart Goodall, Baroness Hayman & David Leslie.
"It was especially valuable to have a detailed chat with Mary Creagh as the new Forest Minister - and I look forward to having further engagement with her at our policy conference at Westminster on 5 December."
He added: "One of our key messages was to highlight forestry and wood as a £2 billion industry which can have a significant economic impact - as well as playing a key role in the UK's journey to net zero. In that context, it was great to speak to Douglas Alexander, who visited Alba Trees and Glennons Windymains sawmill with Confor earlier this year and is now playing a prominent role in Labour's trade and business strategy.
"We were very pleased to have the active support of member companies at the conference – politicians benefit from speaking with business leaders, and we were able to attend a wider range of events and to meet more politicians, highlighting the value that forestry and wood businesses bring to rural communities across the UK."