Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, today visited the Black Country and spent over an hour at Kingswinford manufacturing business Clamason Industries Limited, based at the Gibbons Industrial Park. George was joined by Prospective Conservative MP for Dudley South, Chris Kelly, & Prospective Conservative MP for Dudley North, Graeme Brown.

George, Chris and Graeme were welcomed by Clamason's Managing Director Philip Clarke and Finance Director Dennis Whitmore. After a discusssion between the politicians and the businessmen about the state of the economy and what needs to be done to boost growth, Philip and Dennis gave George, Chris and Graeme a tour of Clamason's facilities.

George has been campaigning recently for the economy to be rebalanced away from debt and government spending and more toward investment and exports, so he was delighted to find that more than half of Clamason's turnover comes from exports. "It's great to see a successful business making things and exporting", he said.

Philip showed the group some of the products they made, which stretch from devices used in hip replacement operations, to parts for bicycles and power tools.

Chris said, "I was pleased to be able to follow up my recent visit to Clamason's by bringing the Shadow Chancellor to visit the company and see for himself the breadth of Clamason's operations and innovation. The company manufactures a huge range of goods made specificially for each customer right here in the heart of Dudley South and the research and development which goes into every individual product is hugely impressive. Clamason's success shows that it is possible to run a successful manufacturing business in the Black Country. We need to do more to encourage more successful manufacturers like Clamason, which a Conservative government would do by cutting Corporation Tax, and allowing new businesses not to pay National Insurance on the first 10 employees they hire. We need a recovery led by the private sector creating new jobs."

25th February 2010