TSI president calls upon council leaders to recognise 'extraordinary circumstances'

Yesterday our TSI President, Baroness Christine Crawley, kindly hosted myself and a TSI team in the House of Lords.

First we all met with Baroness Royall to talk about the issues raised by the Public Bodies Bill for trading standards, consumers and legitimate business and how she might respond, as leader of the opposition, to these concerns. Her interest and support are a fantastic boost to TSI.

Baroness Crawley then took time out of her hectic schedule to personally sign more than 200 letters to leaders of councils calling for them to recognise the 'extraordinary circumstances' trading standard services face and the need for sustained funding.

Those letters went out last night. This morning they should be in the hands of the people who can and will influence the funding of trading standards services. I hope they appreciate that these are indeed, as Christine says, 'extraordinary circumstances' and take action to sustain the funding needed to support the vital work done to protect consumers and legitimate business.