An innovative Winchester based business has been the subject of discussion in the House of Commons this week.

Steve Brine, MP for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford, raised the growing cycle company Cytronex during questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his team.

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Cytronex, which launched in 2008, develops existing bicycles into e-bikes using their own manufactured technology.

The success of the business has drawn international attention and recognition, with the company scooping an e-bike of the year award in 2021.

However, it has now reached a crossroads, with further space and machinery needed to meet growing demands around the world, with the company also keen to continue manufacturing in the city.

Raising the issue with the House of Commons, Mr Brine said: "Cytronex are passionate about manufacturing their production Britain, they even assemble their own lithium battery packs in Winchester, in my constituency.

“What more can we do to help small businesses like them make the leap into mass production?”

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The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Frazer MP, responded on behalf of the Government, she said: "Cytronex sounds like an absolutely fantastic company and it’s great to see it in Winchester.

"It's precisely the type of company that we want to support, and it could benefit from the super deduction that we brought in recently. Under the super deduction every pound a company invests, their taxes are cut by up to 25p.

"This particular type of investment will help manufacturing and the manufacturing sector.”

However, while Mark Searles of Cytronex thanked Mr Brine for raising the issue with the treasury, he said a super deduction may not necessarily be the answer to solving the company’s current push for expansion on home soil.

He said: “I am very grateful to Steve Brine for raising with the Treasury the key issue facing Cytronex – we probably need ten times the space we have now to be able to promote Cytronex and still meet demand, and we want to continue manufacturing our product right here in Britain.

“I am also grateful to the Minister for her reply, in which she suggested we use the super-deduction to help us invest in the plant and machinery we need.

“I agree that the super-deduction is an excellent initiative to encourage medium to large manufacturers to update equipment and invest in automation, giving these companies an immediate reduction in the corporation tax on their profits.

“However, for small innovators like Cytronex, we are in a catch22 position – we have already made a substantial investment in Research and Development, so we will not be able to make the profits on which the super deduction would save us tax until we have scaled up our business to manufacture on a much larger scale.

“But that is of course precisely what we need the investment for in the first place, for much larger premises and machinery. So unfortunately, the super-deduction will not help us to scale up.

“However, the minister has kindly asked for my opinion, and I will be writing to her very soon.

“I think it is a real shame that so many British inventions end up being manufactured in other parts of the world.

“We remain determined to scale up our production here in the UK, and if possible, in Winchester.

“We just need a little help to achieve this!”

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