EXCHEQUER Secretary to the Treasury MP Priti Patel has urged Dorset businesses to not “stand still” to help the local and national economy grow.

Speaking at an event held at Weymouth College, Mrs Patel addressed issues regarding the local, national and global economy and congratulated local businesses for the way they had “survived and prospered” during the recession.

The event was the first one organised by the Weymouth and Portland Chamber Commerce and Dorset Chamber of Commerce since the two chambers affiliated in December 2014.

She told the audience, which consisted of around 70 local businessmen and women plus students from the college, that the government was committed to create the “right conditions” for business to continue to grow.

She said more needed to be done to improve the local infrastructure including railways and roads to boost “connectivity” between businesses and to also help tourism, which she described as “absolutely vital” to the area.

She also pledged to reform business rates, the legislations and regulations that she said were “holding” businesses back and to also make it easier for small and medium sized business to gain access to funding.

Speaking to the audience, Mrs Patel said: “We are one of the fastest growing economies in the world and are the engineers of economic growth.

“What we need to do now not standstill and to create the right conditions for economic growth.

“There is tons to do, we are not out of the woods yet, there are bigger and bigger challenges that lie ahead.

“The global economy is still unstable, we can see that in countries such as Greece, and we need to be careful that if countries sneeze we don’t catch a cold.

“It’s been a challenging period since 2008 and the recession, but you should be commended for surviving and prospering but keep on going, but you can’t stand still."