As individuals, more of us are looking to purchase local produce and support our local businesses. Local trades and businesses are in crisis and over 2,000 local shops are closing each year, so it is also important that businesses adopt the same policies.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is run by its members for its members and lobby to protect the interests of SMEs whenever they can. A year ago, they launched the Keep Trade Local campaign, conceived a year ago out of the floods in South yorkshire when the FSB campaigned to encourage the use of local trades for flood repairs. They recently took this campaign to the three party conferences where it won support of MPs across the political spectrum. It is not only local business that need to consider keeping it local, but also our local councils and other governmental organisations.
If you would like to support this campaign, please sign this petition.
Using local trades and shops when possible not only boosts the local economy but also significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the goods and services we use. Some eco-towns have even introduced their own legal currency in order to encourage local trade. What a fantastic idea!Â
1 Comment
I’m a member of the FSB and am happy to sign this petition. I think if we’re to reverse the economic and environmental challenges we face, keeping things local rather than global is the way to go.
Well done Mike and Jill for blogging about this.