Julia Lopez Conservative, Hornchurch and Upminster  3:31 pm, 30th October 2018

This afternoon my team and I visited Ford Dagenham to see their plant, meet the people working on the factory floor and discuss diesel, the future of autonomous vehicles, high tech manufacturing and Brexit.

This morning the team and I visited Harrison Wipes, a manufacturing business on Harold Hill that has been a family-run operation since 1891 when Saul Harrison founded the company in Great Yarmouth.

Today the team and I visited Uniserve, the UK's number one independent logistics and global trade management provider.

During the next ten years Havering Council is planning to build around 3,500 new homes for local people at affordable rents, low-cost home ownership and private sale, in one of the most ambitious local authority home building programmes in the country.

Not long after I was elected, I was invited to visit food import business, Anzco, at their Harold Wood office to discuss Brexit and trade policy. Anzco exports high quality New Zealand beef and lamb into the UK and employs over 3000 staff worldwide. 

This morning the team and I visited the STC Group's Harold Wood training centre to hear how they are training the local workforce in construction, decorating and tiling for upcoming housing projects. 

This morning the team and I visited Harold Wood manufacturer, Silverhook, after receiving an invitation by dynamic Chief Executive, John Iszatt, to discuss exporting. 

This morning Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, hosted his Trade Export Hub at Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, to help local businesses identify new opportunities with international partners, specifically with regard to the export of goods and services.

I first came across local businesswoman, Danielle Everitt, one cold Saturday morning on Hornchurch High Street.