Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely says he wants to work closely with Isle of Wight businesses ahead of the launch of his new Island manifesto, published later this year. He’s also pledged to work to “make sure Brexit is successful.”
The interview is published full in the new edition of Island Business magazine.
What do you think businesses want from you?
I think they want somebody who will articulate the Island’s voice in Westminster, who will help deliver, who will help provide leadership and ideas, who will help them to make their case with government.
What I want from business people is their ideas, talent and – frankly – money. I want businesses to invest in the Island – investing their time, their effort, their leadership skills and setting an example. Whether it’s in apprenticeships, or a can-do attitude where they can work with me, or the council, or the voluntary or the business or the political sector, to deliver good change for the Island. I want the ideas and the energy that the business community provides, so that business people can make money and employ people and pay taxes, but I also want business people to take a lead in life on the Island.
Small businesses in particular are the backbone of this country and they provide a very significant number of the jobs. We must champion them because they are the drivers of prosperity. The business community is a powerful thing and I want it to be a force for good. It’s not just about making a bit of money – although that is good in itself – what’s more important is the good that can be done with that wealth. This is our time to make a difference and leave the Island in a better state than we found it.
Brexit is a divisive subject isn’t it? Leave won the referendum nationally – and 62% of the Island voted out of the EU – but many people in the business community still oppose Brexit.
You have to respect democracy and we were given a choice. You can’t just ignore it if you don’t like it. What we need to do now is make sure that Brexit is successful. An awful lot of the negative things that were predicted haven’t taken place. The Treasury promised an immediate and severe recession and that simply hasn’t happened. The slowdown in the economy may well have happened anyway because of differing economic cycles between Britain and continental Europe. The UK economy has grown by 15% since 2010. We have to get the best possible Brexit and I’m supporting the government in doing that, frankly.
I’m more interested in getting immediate wins, rather than spending a lot of time and effort at Brexit. I do want to see the Island get our fair share of the dividend from Brexit. We will get back hundreds of millions pounds and I want a fair chunk of that money spent here because we will need to invest in our economy.
What can you realistically do as MP to help grow the Island’s economy? What would you like to achieve in your time in office?
I want to be an active MP who makes a difference. As an MP you have a lot of influence but a limited amount of power. In the broader sense though you can drive and encourage change. You can help people to get digital infrastructure funding. You can support people who want to bring a university here or expand higher education on the Island. You can support people who want to see the right type of housing for the Island – providing starter homes, social housing, key worker housing and homes that are affordable for young people, rather than just allowing speculative development which I think has been counter productive in the past.
You can do a lot but the difficulty is trying to deliver. I’m going try and interpret the role as broadly as possible and to be as proactive as possible. I meet with ministers very often to talk about what the Island needs. A lot of MPs do a wonderful job but I’m holding meetings with ministers once or twice a week, often four times. I don’t think any backbench MP is talking to more ministers about their constituency than I am.
What are your ambitions politically? Are you happy to be the Island’s MP or would you like a ministerial role?
I’m genuinely not very ambitious for myself. I’m not that young. I know people think I’m a whippersnapper but a lot of people are much younger than me in parliament. My ambition really is for the Island. If it came down to me being successful as a minister, or being successful in delivering for the Island, I would choose the latter every time. To be a good MP I have to deliver for the Island.
I’m preparing a manifesto for what I think the Island needs and I’ll launch it between February and May. It’s my vision for the Island, although not all of these ideas are exclusively mine. A lot of these ideas I share with the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce, which has produced an excellent 2020 vision which I really like. It’s powerful and eloquent and a tribute to the Chamber’s senior membership team.
