JOHN GLEN MP has called for people to shop locally as he backed the Small Business Saturday campaign to support local firms.

Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to 'shop local' and support small businesses in their communities.

To show his support for small businesses, Mr Glen toured the Phoenix Emporium on Tollgate Road this morning in his capacity as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Opened by Chrissie and Jules Aplin in November 2019, The Phoenix Emporium is home to more than 100 individual traders selling antiques, collectables, handmade items and more.

Salisbury Journal: John Glen MP talking to Diana and Trevor Knight at the Phoenix Emporium John Glen MP talking to Diana and Trevor Knight at the Phoenix Emporium (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Glen told the Journal that the Emporium was fantastic, and added: "The model works, where you minimise the overheads and you are allowing people to get a supplementary income stream at a difficult time."

As well as coinciding with Small Business Saturday, Mr Glen wanted to highlight the amount of support available for businesses. 

The Government is supporting small businesses with the rising cost of energy through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will see wholesale energy prices for all firms capped.

At the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor also announced a £13.6 billion package of support for business ratepayers in England.

Mr Glen said: "The real issue at the moment is the energy support scheme, which is really important for businesses. That gives people a guaranteed backstop until the end of March in terms of managing their costs and I think here it has made a massive difference because clearly they wouldn't be able to pay for the premises and all the heating. 

"The challenge now will be going forward, and it will very very challenging to help everyone, but we are very pleased that we have this support in place at this critical time in the run-up to Christmas and for the businesses here it means they can continue to trade and not be anxious."

Salisbury Journal: John Glen talking to a trader at the Phoenix Emporium John Glen talking to a trader at the Phoenix Emporium (Image: Newsquest)

He added that the government are trying to reconcile many competing priorities, supporting households, and businesses and trying to bring inflation down. 

On what the support for businesses may look like after March 2023, Mr Glen said: "We are looking at the energy support scheme very carefully, and we will make announcements in due course, but we've got to try and reconcile how much money we've got, or not got frankly, with the desire to help the economy transition through this very difficult stage."

The impact of Brexit was mentioned by one of the traders Mr Glen spoke to during his visit, and on this, he told the Journal: "Well I think that the key point is we are in difficult economic times, in a recession, we have got to support businesses as best we can. 

"Inevitably there was always going to be a transition but for me, what's important is that I deal with the circumstances we are in now six years later and just focus pragmatically on all the different challenges. 

"So business rates relief, the energy support, household support which is committed for two years but I try to be pragmatic and focus on the issues at hand rather than get into what's gone on in the past.". 

He added that the issue of Brexit does come up, but said the decision has been made and that we need to take things forward. 

During Mr Glen's visit, Chrissie Aplin highlighted the ‘lifeline’ provided by Government’s ongoing business rates support and through holding down energy bills this winter.

Chrissie added: "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for small businesses, so for us to be able to showcase them is a way for us to make people aware that we are here and small businesses are here.

"Government support on business rates and with our rising energy bills is a lifeline for us at the Phoenix Emporium. Through the Emporium we offer individuals and small businesses an outlet to sell their items without the huge overheads of running their own premises.

“Small businesses like ours offer something completely different to bigger companies – hidden treasures, locally produced goods and a sense of community.  We thank John Glen and the Small Business Saturday campaign for their ongoing support.”

For more information on Small Business Saturday, click here, and for more information on business rates support, click here.