Get Ready for the Second Half.

The last week in the election campaign has felt like half time at the Cup Final. 

It's almost as if the parties have thought we'll get all the manifestos out have a bit of a breather then come out fighting for the second half. The tragic events in the Mediterranean and most recently in Nepal have also, unfortunately, added to this feeling as they have, quite rightly, knocked the election off the top news slots. I'm pretty sure though that with less than a fortnight to go to the election "normal" service will be resumed.

This last week at the Chamber we swung our focus firmly onto the GM devolution issue and held the first of our events with Sir Richard Leese. A full summary can be found here and more can be  found in May's 53 Degrees magazine. It was a great event and we had some excellent feedback from attendees both on the content but also the style whereby we gave Sir Richard and the businesses that were there enough time to get stuck in to what is developing into not just a local or regional issue but one that will be at the centre of the next government's agenda. As Sir Richard put it - government needs devolution to succeed. The big question at present is what will that government look like?

To help answer that we have now released our overview of the various manifestos and what the parties have said about their plans for business. You can access this on our new Election 2015 page. There's some good stuff in there but how much survives post election is anyone's guess which is why we will be working in the immediate aftermath to keep track of what is happening and what the impact will be.  I can guarantee that whoever is in Number 10 we will continue to make sure that your views continue to be represented and we will work with government to get the best deal for business.

If the current poll forecasts and predictions turn out to be accurate that may take some time though. Maybe we about  to go to extra time and penalties?