A Window into the Political World

BPF Windows Goup member, Lister Frames, hosted a meeting with its local Labour MP, Tristram Hunt, at its Stoke-on-Trent plant recently. Lister's Managing Director, Mark Warren, together with BPF's Philip Law and Francisco Morcillo used the occasion to discuss the strategic positioning of the UK plastics industry in relation to the current political agenda.

Philip Law said, 'Mark’s company is a model of its kind. He is collecting and putting to recycling over 180 tonnes of used PVC and we were able to use this to introduce Tristram to the VinylPlus PVC sustainability initiative which aims to see 800,000 tonnes of PVC building products recycled annually by 2020 and which provides an overall context to Lister Frames's recycling achievements'.

As Tristram is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Energy Intensive Industries we focussed on the very positive role of plastics in helping to herald in a low carbon economy in the UK. Tristram noted our concerns on the sheer availability of energy in the UK in three to four years time and Mark was able to brief him on industry reactions to The Green Deal.

Tristram is also a celebrated TV historian and academic specialising in the nineteenth century and he was naturally very interested in the historical evolution of the industry, particularly its Victorian origins, and how much of it was, as he put it, ‘a north-west story’. 

Mark was also able to raise issues connected with the abuse of 'pre- packaged' insolvency which can allow unscrupulous operators to continue in business even after their operations have failed.

'The BPF encourages all of its members to follow the example of companies like Lister, to be pro-active in establishing dialogue with their local MP to get them on board as an ally. Otherwise', said Law, 'how can we make our political community industrially literate?'

ENDS.

Photograph attached: left to right Francisco Morcillo, Philip Law, Mark Warren and Tristram Hunt MP.

For all media enquiries, BPF logos and images, please contact Philip Law, Public & Industrial Affairs Director on 0207 457 5000 or email [email protected]  
 
Notes for editors:
 
British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry – representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.