Sefton Council hosts Bank of England business roundtable
23 July 2025 2 min read
Last week, Sefton Council hosted the latest Bank of England’s Business Roundtable, at Southport’s Vincent Hotel.
Key sectors
A mix of Southport businesses from across key sectors attended the event to provide vital input to the Bank of England’s economic research. The businesses discussed the challenges and opportunities for Southport, Sefton and local economy.
Organised by Sefton Council’s InvestSefton team, the Roundtable was chaired by its Executive Director of Regeneration, Economy and Assets, Stephen Watson.
The Bank of England delegation was led by Dr Swati Dhingra, external member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee and Ken Clark, who is Agent for the North West and a regular presenter at the Sefton Economic Forum. Policy Advisors Emily Fry and Lydia Reid also attended the event.
Real coup for Sefton
After the event Stephen Watson said: “This was a real coup for Sefton and comes on the back of our ongoing relationship with Ken Clark who provides a popular economic update at our Economic Forum meetings.
“It was also great to have Dr Dhingra with us tonight as she is a well-respected external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.
“I am delighted the InvestSefton team can bring events of this calibre to the Borough and would like to thank them, and also the Sefton businesses who attended and provided some excellent insights on the challenges and exciting opportunities ahead for our town, our Borough and our economy.”
Time and views
Ken Clark said: “The Bank regularly meets business leaders around the country to hear directly about economic and financial conditions and I’m grateful to InvestSefton for organising this event, and to the business leaders who shared their time and their views.”
InvestSefton’s next Economic Forum takes place on Thursday 27th November at Crosby Lakeside. Further information is available by contacting investsefton@sefton.gov.uk.
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