The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC, formerly known prior to 1996 as the Association of British Chambers of Commerce) is the national representative body of 53 chambers of commerce across the UK. The chambers represent 50,000 businesses, which the BCC claims employs 6 million people.

History

The organisation was founded in 1860 as the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, following a 1859 meeting of the leaders of the Yorkshire Chambers of Commerce at the Social Science Congress in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. During the 19th century, the organisation lobbied regarding a range of issues, including

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

law, transport,

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

law, and

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

, and promoted adopting the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that standardization, standardizes a set of base units and a nomenclature for describing relatively large and small quantities via decimal-based multiplicative unit prefixes. Though the rules gover ...

. By 1900, it had more than 50 MPs as honorary members. In 1919, the name was changed to the Association of British Chambers of Commerce. Post-World War 2, the organisation lobbied for the UK to join the European trade area. In 2016, the director-general of the organisation, John Longworth quit due his support of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

, when 60% of BCC members supported EU membership. In modern times, the BCC has been regarded as less prominent than its rival, the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a British business interest group, which says it represents 190,000 businesses. The CBI has been described by the ''Financial Times'' as "Britain's biggest business lobby group". Incorporated by roy ...

(CBI). In 2023, the organisation set up the Business Council as a rival to the CBI, which had faced a crisis following sexual harassment and assault allegations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:British Chambers Of Commerce Foreign trade of the United Kingdom Chambers of commerce in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organizations established in 1860 1860 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links