Keeping the show on the road

Sam Jefferson spoke to the CEO of British Marine Lesley Robinson about the impact of the current crisis and the future of the Southampton Boat Show

- Sam Jefferson

One of the big roles British Marine plays is to represent the industry; membership of British Marine represents a sort of insurance policy during a crisis,” Lesley Robinson explains. “Never is this more important than now.”

I’m chatting with the CEO of British Marine on a broad range of topics but, inevitably, things keep getting drawn back to the one fearful menace which has dominated all of our thoughts for some time now: Covid–19. Lesley Robinson is in a prime position to provide some oversight on the matter from the perspective of the marine industry. She has been at the helm of British Marine (previously known as the British Marine Federation) since mid-2018. Its role is to provide support to member marine businesses and be a voice within the higher echelons of government for the 1,500 members, which come from a broad range of businesses including boat builders, chandlers, brokers, marinas and equipment manufacturers. In addition, British Marine represents the interests of the wider marine industry. Never have members needed representation quite like now.

“Our industry is not unique in being hugely impacted by this crisis, but this is certainly a time when it’s clear what we are here for – it was vital that we sprang into action quickly to represent the interests of our members and continue to do so.

“As an example, when the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme was introduced by the Government, the loans initially only covered businesses with a turnover of up to £45m. That covered an awful lot of our membership but not some of the big boat builders, so we immediately lobbied to ensure that the relief covered businesses up to £500m. I’m not saying we were solely responsible for that, but we played our part.”

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