Local Member of Parliament, Mary Macleod, recently welcomed the Mayor of London to her constituency of Brentford and Isleworth.  Mayor Boris Johnson took the opportunity to champion the capital’s manufacturers as he visited two world-renowned London-based firms making a vital contribution to the city’s economy.

Accompanied by Mary, Boris Johnson highlighted the importance of nurturing London’s businesses and talented entrepreneurs during visits to award-winning brewery Fuller Smith & Turner of Chiswick and iconic bicycle firm Bromptons.

Mary commented:  “It was great to welcome the Mayor of London to the constituency of Brentford and Isleworth, and I was honoured to be able to accompany him on his visits to Fullers and Brompton Bicycles.  I have great admiration for both these iconic local companies, and I am particularly impressed with their apprenticeship programmes.  Creating a skilled workforce is vital and the Mayor is currently on target to create 20,000 apprenticeship opportunities by the end of the academic year and 3,000 apprentices within the GLA group alone by 2012.

“Locally, I am working hard to increase the availability of work experience placements to help boost job seekers’ skills.  The key to this is connecting employers with eager and willing work experience candidates, who will use their opportunity at a local company to build their confidence in the workplace and get their works skills up to speed.”