The Fed meets with Jim Shannon MP in Comber, County Down

Fed representatives met with Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon in Comber, in Northern Ireland, on Friday January 16 at Livingstone’s Newsagents. The visit was hosted by the Fed’s president in Northern Ireland Julie Brown, who co-owns and runs the business along with her brother Jim Livingstone.

The shop is situated on Bridge Street, in the centre of the town near Strangford Lough in the Strangford constituency of the Westminster Parliament. Also in attendance was the Fed’s membership services manager Gwen Patterson.

During the meeting, the Fed representatives highlighted the value of small independent shops to people across Northern Ireland and across the wider UK and Ireland, together with the social and economic role they play at the heart of their communities.

Jim Shannon MP commented: “It was an extremely positive meeting and I was delighted to meet with Julie, Jim and Gwen from the Fed. I look forward to working with them in the future to highlight the work of the Fed and what we can do locally and what I can do as a Member of Parliament from Westminster to amplify this message.”

Ms Brown said: “We were pleased that Mr Shannon took the time to visit the business and listen to the points that I raised about the cost of doing business, as well as issues around theft and the challenges posed by rogue trade including the illicit trade of tobacco and what can be done to stop it. I will be happy to work with him in the future and to continue to work on the points we raised.

“We emphasised the danger that if the rising business costs I identified like higher taxes – particularly higher National Insurance contributions – and energy costs are not addressed they are likely to lead to shorter shop opening hours and cutting staff hours.”