Chancellor visits Marldon Christmas Tree Farm to welcome the company’s export and innovation drive
Visiting Marldon Christmas Tree Farm in Devon, the Chancellor welcomes the company's export and innovation drive and selects No11 Christmas tree.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, accompanied by Minister for Women and Equalities Nicky Morgan, today visited Marldon Christmas Tree Farm in Devon to welcome the launch of the company’s new ‘My Little Tree’ range to hear about their plans to export abroad for the first time ever this Christmas. While on the visit the Chancellor also picked the official Christmas tree for No11 Downing Street.
The decisions to export to Holland and to launch a new micro tree for the domestic market are key parts of the company’s long term growth strategy.
Marldon Christmas Tree Farm is part of Jadecliff, owned and run by Sadie Lynes. The company provides Christmas trees for the wholesale market but also supplies directly to the public on many of its sites. The company also plans to help Britain become a market leader in Christmas tree growing, working with Bicton Agriculture College to form new courses about the industry.
The visit formed the agricultural element of the Chancellors regional tour highlighting the role of women in the economy, which came as new HM Treasury analysis was published showing strong female employment in all four sectors of the economy, primarily in highly skilled occupations.
The government has prioritised key policies to help support women into work, including tax free childcare, flexible working and shared parental leave. The government has also provided support to women who want to set up their own business and contribute to the economy, including investing £1.6 million to support rural women’s businesses and £1.9 million in the Get Mentoring project, which has recruited and trained over 15,000 volunteer business mentors. Further support is available on the Business is Great: Women in enterprise webpage.
George Osborne said:
It is great to visit Jadecliff, a thriving British company, as they launch the innovative ‘My Little Tree’ product, and announce plans to export for the first time. It is also great to hear about the work that Sadie is doing to help the UK become a market leader in the industry.
A key part of the government’s long term economic plan is to get Britain innovating and exporting and it is great to see Jadecliff doing just that. And thank you for the beautiful tree for No11 Downing Street.
Nicky Morgan said:
It’s fantastic to see women founding companies and contributing to the economy. We have more women in work than ever before, and women are now running more than a million small businesses in the UK, contributing more than £80bn to the economy.
I want women to know that more support than ever is available to run their own businesses. We’ve provided over £1 million to support women to move their businesses on-line and have invested £1.9 million in the Get Mentoring project, which has recruited and trained over 15,000 volunteer business mentors.
Sadie Lynes, Managing Director, Jadecliff said:
It was great to welcome the Chancellor to Marldon Christmas Tree farm to launch our new product ‘My Little Tree’. We are also honoured to be providing the official Christmas tree for No11 Downing Street this year.
Overall it is a very exciting time for us, launching our new product and exporting for the first time. As the Chancellor mentions this will certainly help our business grow and secure jobs here in Devon.