Keep Trade Local

Contents

1. How small businesses are fighting to Keep Trade Local
2. Waking up to local needs
3. National voice, local impacts
4. Local variation
5. Businesses helping themselves

Waking up to local needs

The campaign began in Sheffield, in the wake of 2007's devastating floods. During the clear-up, there was anger at the perceived failure of insurers to use local tradespeople for the reconstruction, just at the time that the local area was suffering the most.

So members of the FSB formed a campaign group to raise awareness of the issues faced by the area's businesses and put pressure on policymakers to do more to help.

The idea was soon adopted across East Yorkshire, and in March 2008 it was taken up by the FSB as a national campaign. By July there was the manifesto, and by October more than 4,000 had signed the Keep Trade Local online petition at the Number 10 website.