'Superb support' for petition to keep Brintons in Kidderminster

8:00am Wednesday 18th April 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Jennifer Meierhans

“Superb support”: From left, Gavin Miller and Terry Pye, national officer for Community. Buy this photo 161231M at kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/pictures or by calling 01562 633333. Buy this photo » “Superb support”: From left, Gavin Miller and Terry Pye, national officer for Community. Buy this photo 161231M at kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/pictures or by calling 01562 633333.

NEARLY 900 Kidderminster shoppers signed a petition to keep Brintons carpet makers in the town.

Trade union Community held a stall outside the town hall on Thursday promoting the list which calls on the Government to keep the 228-year-old company in its birthplace.

“Support from the shoppers in the town was absolutely superb,” said campaign manager for Community, Gavin Miller.

“In five and a half hours we collected 880 signatures which went far beyond my expectations. Overall now we have around 2,000 signatures and the campaign is really gathering momentum. Personally I think that the people of Kidderminster should be proud of themselves for supporting their industry.”

Wyre Forest’s MP, Conservative Mark Garnier went down to the stall and talked about setting up a meeting with business secretary Vince Cable, to highlight the campaign, which Community says it is keen to pursue.

Former president of the union, retired Roy Darkes was out shopping and went over to sign. Three hours later he was still there with a clipboard helping out.

Gordon Rudd, Paul Mills and Alan Woodbine of Community also helped gather signatures. To sign the petition online visit click here

Comments(12)

kidderlord says...
8:49am Wed 18 Apr 12

Whilst i dont want to see Brintons leave, what on earth is it to do with the Government?

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stour67 says...
11:56am Wed 18 Apr 12

Because the Portugal government are giving grants for them to move over there,all they want is a level playing field,so if they can why not our's as it would be cheaper than throwing them on the dole,and the council losing needed taxes.

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HowardM says...
12:30pm Wed 18 Apr 12

Firstly the link above to sign doesn't work - says it doesn't exist!
Also Stour67 is right - the UK Govt offer no incentives in Wyre Forest to assist businesses here - there are "pots" of EU money which can be made available, and are in other parts of the UK, but WF gets none of them. Those are the grants being given in Portugal though delegation to the govt there.
Why, one wonders, is our MP quoted as saying we are not in the business of conducting an "auction" to keep Brinton's here when what he should be doing is lobbying government to get tangible support for either the district or the carpet sector in general - both accepable options under EU rules. An MP should work for his constituency, and its well being, above all else and certainly before the policies of his Party or the Government he represents.
Incidentally, did he sign the Petition when he visited theTown Centre last week - no body said, and I'm sure that we would all like to know that he made that minimal commitment to the cause.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
9:03am Thu 19 Apr 12

@HowardM - Because if we're not careful we'll end up like the USA system whereby large employers state they're going to pull out of an area unless the local government build them a new access road; lower their taxes and give all the executives a nice foot massage.

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HowardM says...
1:46pm Thu 19 Apr 12

@FlipC - But they stay in the US! We are not fighting other countries on a level playing field because the UK government believes in non -intervention and letting market forces rule. Its Thatcherism again and that practically created 4m unemployed in the 1980/90's during the last Tory Govt. There is nothing wrong with providing incentives to stay in the UK and its cheaper than paying benefit over many years to those made unemployed through lack of support.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
2:48pm Thu 19 Apr 12

@HowardM - Don't think of the US as one country - think it of it like the EU with each state representing a country.

The states aren't fighting each other on a level playing field either which is how a large employer can threaten to upsticks to another.

Sure there's nothing wrong to providing incentives for companies to stay in the UK but it can't be handled at an individual level.

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Gobby Robby says...
5:10pm Thu 19 Apr 12

"The states aren't fighting each other on a level playing field either" - great, let's stick our head in the sand & not fight for these jobs, adding more workers & families to the unemployment scrap heap. At least FlipC & Garnier can drink champers to the return of Thatcherism.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
9:03am Fri 20 Apr 12

Sticking my head in the sand? Hardly. It's just that the real question is "Why are they leaving?" because the answer is likely to be similar to the reasons other companies are thinking of doing the same.

Are we supposed to make a special exemption for this one company or this one industry; and then another exemption when another company or industry decides to act the same way?

That is what leads to the targeted behaviour I mentioned wherein a company holds a state/country to ransom. Do we want that to happen. By that reasoning no-one should have been upset at the HMRC regarding the Vodafone and Top Shop tax debacle; they were just ensuring these large employing companies stayed within our country.

Sometimes special considerations are necessary, but they shouldn't be the first resort.

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Gobby Robby says...
9:38am Fri 20 Apr 12

Vodaphone & Top Shop would still have been operating in this country, they have no option but to pay the tax, unless the govt lets them off of course. All govts have a duty to try & keep the industry that can leave here when it's not a level playing field. Mark Garnier's not bothered about Wyre Forest people losing their jobs because he's here to protect rich shareholders profits which will either stay the same or increase if they go abroad.

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HowardM says...
12:57pm Fri 20 Apr 12

FlipC - I said the Govt could either support the Wyre Forest area (as it did in the 80's with Regional Selective Assistance) or it could support the Carpet Sector - I never suggested supporting Brintons as a one off.
Re the US - the Federal Govt is probably the most protectionist govt in the developed world - and whilst individual states offer incentives there are also central incentives to keep US companies at home.
The world markets are now driven by competition, incentives and negotiation - by adopting the "laise faire" approach favoured by the Tories and Mark the UK business economy will continue to retract and the recession will deepen - incentives are essential to "sweeten" the reasons to stay in the UK with so many other options now available.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
2:20pm Fri 20 Apr 12

@Robby and Howard - As in so many discussions we have I agree with you in the broad, but am concerned with the trend that may result.

We need to make the UK palatable for businesses and to use any monies we can gain from the EU etc. to do that.

But all this currently here seems to stem from "Oh gods Brintons is leaving quick what can we do to make them stay - what can we do for *them*".

I'm not saying I don't want them to stay and I'm not saying we shouldn't do something to encourage them to do so; merely to be wary about treating it as some sort of special case.

I mean say one company gone means the loss of 300 employees while at the same time ten companies of 30 employees also goes... which is likely to get the petition to try to make it stay? Which gets the headlines?

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HowardM says...
12:52pm Sun 22 Apr 12

FlipC - agree entirely

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