The Business and Trade Secretary of State, Rt Hon. Kemi Badenoch MP, was welcomed to Colwick yesterday by Gedling’s Conservative Member of Parliament Tom Randall MP. Together with Colwick’s County Councillor Mike Adams, they visited family-run The Wilkins Group which is the largest independently-run packaging supplier in the sector and employs over 300 people at its headquarters in Colwick.
After speaking with The Wilkins Group directors and then touring the factory, Tom Randall MP said: “it was a pleasure to welcome the Business and Trade Secretary to Colwick yesterday for her to hear from a local business. We visited The Wilkins Group, which is an amazing family-run carton packaging supplier that employs hundreds of local people and has manufacturing hubs in Colwick, Eastern Europe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, China and USA. If you’ve bought a pizza, pukka pie or a curry from a supermarket, it was probably wrapped in packaging made here in Colwick.
“The Business and Trade Secretary and I were pleased to hear about the huge reduction in plastic within the packaging that the Wilkins Group produce and how the Government’s full expensing scheme has allowed the Wilkins Group, and businesses across Gedling, to invest into growing and expanding.
Speaking after the visit, the Business and Trade Secretary of State, Rt Hon. Kemi Badenoch MP, said: “One of the most fascinating things for me was understanding how things that the Government have done, like full expensing, can help to keep businesses like The Wilkins Group, going.
“This Conservative Government is doing everything it can to make sure we keep manufacturing in the UK, especially in sensitive areas like food. I was really thrilled to see the fantastic operation The Wilkins Group have here in Colwick.”
Tom added: “A massive thank you to the Wilkins Group for investing in and expanding its Colwick head office and employing so many local people. Their feedback to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade during the visit will help shape the Government’s continued support for businesses.”
