Nicola Bates, CEO of WineGB, tells Lizzy O’Riordan the organisation has received positive government feedback in response to its Manifesto for Growth, published in June 2024
According to WineGB CEO Nicola Bates, the trade group’s Manifesto for Growth has “been a powerful calling card”.
“We’ve had the secretary of state for the Department for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds write back to us already,” she says. “He understands the work and can see this sector is really exhilarating. He wants to help.
“We have also had the same response from the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).”
According to Bates, the success of the manifesto comes from having clear and coherent points. The document released ahead of the last general election outlined three key points including: a fairer approach to business, sustainability support, and help promoting English, Welsh and British wine.
These points were gathered by “a big membership survey and a massive regional tour where I sat down with focus groups, to work out what matters to people”.
Simplicity is key to communication, Bates explains. “That’s often the bit where trade associations do their job well. You’re translating business needs and taking it to the government and helping them understand it.
“For us, we made a manifesto that would appeal to a Labour government. We talked about rural communities and creating growth. If we were talking to a Conservative government, we may have focused on levelling. Sometimes it’s all about wording choice.”
“We do have aligned wants,” Bates says. “Labour is looking to grow the economy and we’re looking to grow our industry.”
Exports
WineGB is feeling particularly positive about English wine exports, Bates adds. “There’s been a steady curve.”
The top five export markets for English wine are currently: Norway, Japan, USA, Sweden and Finland. And overall exports are up 4% from 2021.
However, Bates notes that more government help is still needed, especially when it comes to tourism.
“We published our Tourism Report that identified seven things the government can do to support the sector. Some of those have a small cost, like adding cellar door relief. This would allow wine producers something that craft beer producers get already.
“This basically says that if you’re encouraging someone to come to your venue then you can have a subsidy.”
Another thing that would be useful and “should be easy to do” is to “know the exact statistics of what we’re exporting”.
Bates says: “That should be taken from the Exchequer and provided to us, rather than WineGB having to find this from its own members. It’s something that just isn’t recorded now, but we need to get to the position where it’s something that’s recognised as important and tracked.”
