Vince Cable in Leicestershire

Top Lib Dem Dr Vince Cable MP Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, visited the East Midlands today. During the visit he met with the Party's European Regional Spokesperson Phil Knowles and Bosworth Parliamentary Spokesperson Michael Mullaney.

Following on from his visit to the West Midlands when he made a number of key-note speeches on the economy and on the housing situation Dr Vince Cable came to Hinckley where he was given a guided tour of the new Hinckley Hub. Dr Cable commented that he was delighted to see the progress being made with a particular emphasis on the sharing of costs of delivering local services.

Dr Cable then held a meeting with local Liberal Democrat Councillors and the following points were discussed

• The need for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis
• The risk of another housing bubble and at the same time the excessive number of houses being allocated to this area
• Local transport problems
• The need to recognise the risk to the car industry if we disengage with Europe
• The success of local firms such as Mira and regret that they failed to gain the Catapult project
• The impact of HS2 and regret that neither the Leicester area or the Coventry area will benefit
• The need to ensure that local firms benefit from major projects such as HS2 and local projects such as DPD
• The need for flexibility on the part of the Government to ensure that Hinckley & Bosworth benefit from economic growth in both the East and West Midlands
• The need to ensure that local people are fully trained to take advantage of this growth.

Speaking after the meeting Phil Knowles said that: "It had been an ideal opportunity to touch on just some of the many issues that impact both through the Westminster Parliament and the European Parliament. The economy depends greatly on the growth and stability of jobs, I was delighted to have the opportunity to explore this with Dr Cable. ''