SWL Director joins industry delegation at Labour conference
Scottish Woodlands Ltd joined a delegation of forestry and wood interests which took the trees and timber message to Government - by engaging with Forestry Minister Mary Creagh MP and a wide range of politicians at the Labour Party conference.
David Robertson, Investment and Business Development Director with Scottish Woodlands, attended fringe events and receptions, and helped brief politicians from across the UK at the industry’s stand in the exhibition area of the event in Liverpool - attended by well over 20,000 people.
The forestry and wood team - led by Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of industry body Confor - talked about the enormous economic and environmental benefits of trees and timber to Minister Creagh and her colleagues at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - Emma Hardy MP and Baroness Hayman, Defra spokesperson in the House of Lords.
Left to right: Stuart Goodall (CEO Confor), Mary Creagh (Forestry Minister), David Robertson (Investment and Business Development Director, SWL) and David Leslie (Joint Managing Director, JJSL).
Left to right: David Robertson (Investment and Business Development Director, SWL), Stuart Goodall (CEO Confor) and Baroness Hayman.
Left to right: David Robertson (Investment and Business Development Director, SWL), David Smith MP (North Northumberland), Stuart Goodall (CEO Confor) and David Leslie (Joint Managing Director, JJSL).
They also met Toby Perkins MP, previously Shadow Forestry Minister and now Chair of the influential Environmental Audit Committee, Cabinet member Ian Murray MP, and Secretary of State for Scotland and Labour’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar.
There was a strong focus on the business benefits of forestry and wood and the team met former Cabinet member Douglas Alexander MP, now a Trade Minister after his election as MP for East Lothian. There was also a meeting with Daniel Johnson MSP, who speaks on business issues for Labour in the Scottish Parliament, while Bill Esterson MP, Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero, said that he supported “massively increasing” forest cover as a natural and cost-effective method of capturing and storing carbon - in response to a question by Mr Robertson at a Fringe event.
Mr Robertson also met several MPs who cover areas where Scottish Woodlands has offices and/or forests - including David Smith, MP for North Northumberland (the company has an office in Alnwick) and Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, who covers the area where the company’s Welsh office [in Chirk] is based.
Mr Robertson said: “It was important to engage on a number of levels - with the ministerial team covering forestry, with the business and trade team, and with MPs from a wide geographical area. The delegation managed to tick all those boxes."
“Mary Creagh is an experienced and considered politician and new MPs like David Smith and Steve Witherden are in listening mode and genuinely keen to know much more about the industry and its important role in their constituencies."
“On the investment side of the business, it was really positive to hear Douglas Alexander speaking at a Fringe meeting about how Labour intends to ensure that investors fully understand that the UK is open for business, and how it will engage positively with them.”
He added: “It was an extremely positive experience overall and there’s a great deal to build on from the conference. Scottish Woodlands will continue to engage with politicians from all parties, across the UK, as part of a wider industry approach led by Confor. A big part of this is sponsoring the policy conference at Westminster in December, where we hope to engage with Mary Creagh again.”
David Robertson (Investment and Business Development Director, SWL) and Mary Foy MP.
Left to right: David Robertson (Investment and Business Development Director, SWL), Steve Witherden MP) and Stuart Goodall (CEO Confor).
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, said: “Getting the Labour Party to recognise the significance of our £2 billion industry was a key focus for us at Liverpool. It was especially valuable to have a detailed conversation with Mary Creagh as the new Forest Minister and to engage with the business and trade team and explain how our industry can support the new UK Government's economic priorities - particularly around rural growth and jobs, sustainable house-building and timber security.”