Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown in his capacity as the Shadow Minister for International Trade and Development has spent two days in Brussels meeting with the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Alan Duncan MP and the rest of his Shadow departmental team, meeting with senior trade representatives at the European Parliament.

This visit was of high significance as this was the first visit by a Conservative Shadow Departmental Team to Brussels in nine years and the party were able to meet with four EU Commissioners.

Throughout the course of the meetings it transpired that the Commissioners feel that the British Government is too slow in attempting to influence policy in Europe, Ministers are often late for meetings and junior Ministers are often sent in place of senior Cabinet Official.

Mr Clifton-Brown commented on this news by remarking “The current Labour Government has not given the British public a say on whether we should accept the Lisbon Treaty or not, and then they proceed to show no desire to make Europe work for the electorate”

“Whether we like it or not Europe has huge power in shaping our national legislation. We need to be as adept as other countries in shaping European policy in a way that reflects on the needs of our population. Labour simply isn’t doing this”

Turning to the specifics of discussions relating to his Parliamentary portfolio Mr Clifton-Brown said: “The Conservatives are committed to reducing the burden of regulation on British businesses of all sizes. This was a fact finding visit to see what policy makers in Europe are planning for the future and to see how Conservative policy would relate to this.”

The MP was pleased to hear that increasingly European policy is taking into consideration the needs of small and medium size businesses which dominate the British economy and are prevalent across the Cotswolds as well as focusing on cutting regulation and red tape.