Extremism Definition and Community Engagement

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I wish Ramadan Mubarak to everybody who is marking this significant month in the Islamic calendar.

Friday is International Day to Combat Islamophobia, but Muslims are afraid to speak out, lest they be targeted for their beliefs or, indeed, labelled as extremists. The Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, has said that their proposal

“could undermine the UK’s reputation because it would not be seen as democratic.”

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have said in a joint statement that the new definition

“risks disproportionately targeting Muslim communities, who are already experiencing rising levels of hate and abuse”,

and

“may vilify the wrong people”.

Zara Mohammed of the Muslim Council of Britain is concerned that the Government’s proposals are undemocratic, divisive and potentially illegal. The organisation is also concerned about the lack of engagement with some of the groups that the Secretary of State has talked about today. Were any of the Muslim groups that he specifically mentioned contacted, so that they knew that they would be mentioned in today’s statement?

There has been a desperately worrying increase in Islamophobia and antisemitism since 7 October, and it should concern us all that it is happening. We stand against extremism and the targeting of groups in our society, but extremism is on the rise, driven in no small part by the culture wars stoked by the Conservatives, their hangers-on and those who would call peace demonstrations hate marches. This week we have heard about the racism and misogyny expressed by someone who has funded the party of Government. Does the Secretary of State think that racism and misogyny meet his definition of extremism? Does he believe that Frank Hester’s statement about the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), in which he said that she makes him

“want to hate all black women”

and that she “should be shot”, would meet his definition of extremism? If he does, will his party return the £10 million, or will he donate it to a charity of her choosing?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for making those points, and she is quite right to say that we need to be precise. As I stressed in my statement and now have the opportunity to stress again, we should not conflate the specific challenge from certain Islamist groups with the broader Muslim community. We need to be precise in order to draw that distinction, so that we are able to support organisations on the ground that seek to bring people together and to counter anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism. I thank her and her colleagues in the Scottish Government for the engagement that we undertook earlier this week through the Interministerial Standing Committee in order to share best practice about how to work with groups on the ground that are engaged in this vital counter-extremism work across the United Kingdom.

The hon. Lady refers to the comments made by a gentleman who is not a Member of this House, which were clearly racist and regrettable. Speaking as someone who was targeted by an extremist who was attempting to kill me, and who went on to murder a colleague and friend in this House, I take that sort of language incredibly seriously.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Young]

I think the CPO process is probably a bit too lengthy for the fund itself, but I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss the project directly. We are very happy to help fund community pubs through the community ownership fund.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

The Citizens theatre in Glasgow is a much-beloved institution and has been undergoing refurbishment for several years. It has had a range of funding from Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government and Historic Environment Scotland, but, due to inflation and various measures, it still requires additional funding to make up the balance and complete its really significant refurbishment programme. Is the community ownership fund something that the Citizens theatre might be able to avail itself of?

[Jacob Young]

Once again, it sounds as though the theatre may be eligible. I cannot comment on its eligibility today, but I am happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss whether the fund is appropriate for the Citizens theatre.

Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

3rd reading
Wednesday 10th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I oppose this anti-boycott Bill on several points. It is difficult to see its timing as anything other than a cynical move by the UK Government. The Secretary of State talks about support for community cohesion and a peaceful two-state solution, but this Bill does nothing to achieve either. Instead, it will seriously curtail our civil liberties and undermine devolution. If the volume of correspondence I have received on this Bill is any indication, the people of Glasgow, as ever, see right through the Tories.

My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) mentioned the granting of the freedom of the city of Glasgow to Nelson Mandela. In 1986, Glasgow District Council renamed St George’s Place as Nelson Mandela Place as a mark of the city’s solidarity with Nelson Mandela, who was still imprisoned at the time. The point was that the South African consulate was located on the street and was forced to use an address bearing the name of South Africa’s most high-profile political prisoner.

This act of international resistance would simply not have been possible if this legislation had been in place in 1986 as, at that time, the UK Government were still refusing to condemn apartheid. Who would want to speak with one voice when that was what the UK Government were saying on Scotland’s behalf? Indeed, even discussion of such an act would have been unlikely to take place under clause 4’s gagging effect. According to Liberty:

“In practice, a public body seeking to comply with the Bill is likely to take steps to distance itself from anything which suggests that it holds any political or moral views as to the conduct of foreign states, for fear that it could be found to be in breach of the ban or the related prohibition on statements.”

This legislation will undoubtedly alter the executive competence of Scottish Ministers and should be opposed by all of those who value devolution.

The provisions in this Bill are disproportionate and, frankly, unnecessary. The Bill hands sweeping powers to the Secretary of State and the Treasury to request information from the devolved Administrations to assess whether a breach of the boycott ban or gagging clause has occurred and to impose a compliance notice. This is a huge overstep. There are already significant protections in Scottish procurement legislation for bidders from countries where a relevant trade agreement exists. It is not clear what problem the UK Government are trying to fix with this Bill. Worse, the Bill makes it unlawful for Scottish Ministers even to publish a statement that they would have acted in a certain way if not curtailed by these measures. The legislative consent memorandum published by the Deputy First Minister describes this as an “assault on democratic expression”.

As we head into an election year, the Prime Minister is affirming that the legacy he and his predecessors will leave behind will be one of a democracy in tatters, faith in public institutions annihilated and our hard-won rights stripped bare. It is increasingly the case that the only hope left for people in Scotland to protect our democratic freedoms is the hope of an independent Scotland.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I call Miriam Cates, to speak until 6.42 pm.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme Anniversary

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 1st March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Chris Stephens]

My hon. Friend knows that I come from a local government background—I was not a councillor but a local government employee—so I am passionate about its role in society, which enables it to address a number of issues. He is correct that Perth and Kinross Council has shown what local authorities, including SNP-controlled local authorities, can do, so I thank him for that.

In the past 12 months, nearly 23,000 people from Ukraine have secured safety in Scotland, and just shy of 19,000 of them arrived through the super-sponsor scheme. That represents 20.4% of all UK arrivals—the most per head of any of the four UK nations. None of that would have been possible without the generosity and warm-heartedness of people across Scotland, who opened their hearts and their homes to Ukrainian arrivals.

The Scottish Government are supporting the scheme and have allocated over £70 million for the Ukrainian resettlement programme for 2023-24 to ensure that communities continue to receive help to rebuild their lives. That will build on the £200 million that the Scottish Government provided to support resettlement this financial year. The funding will help to ensure that those displaced by the war continue to receive a warm welcome in Scotland and are supported to rebuild their lives in our communities for as long as they need to call Scotland their home. All that, of course, depends on funding. I hope the UK Government will step up to the plate and ensure full and sustained funding is in place to allow those programmes to continue for the coming year and beyond. I will touch on that later.

The Scottish Government are taking action to allow arrivals from Ukraine to take the next steps in their lives in Scotland. As part of the safe and welcoming accommodation, the Scottish Government chartered two passenger ships, one of which is based in the Glasgow South West constituency. I have regularly visited the ship, which provides a very high-standard facility for guests, and the on-board accommodation is well received. Glasgow City Council is on hand, the Department for Education ensures that children have access to schools in the area and helps with their travel, and Department for Work and Pensions staff have been on the ship to ensure that Ukrainian refugees can find employment.

I support the principle that refugees who come to this country should be allowed to work. We need to look at giving the right to work to other people seeking sanctuary, because that is a problem in other parts of the immigration system. The focus should now be on matching people with suitable longer-term accommodation. The ship in Govan will no longer be there at the end of March, so work is being done to put in place a longer-term resettlement fund to ensure that people find accommodation. People are on the passenger ship temporarily, and they are very quickly able to find accommodation to rent. I have seen from my constituency case load that one of the problems is unnecessary delays for the Ukrainian refugees on the ship in receiving biometric residency permits. I hope the Minister will take that back to the Home Office to make sure the BRPs are provided quickly.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I agree with the points that my hon. Friend is making. Concerns have been expressed to me that there may be a need to further promote the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Does he agree? The people on the boat do not always have the option to move on somewhere else. There are still people trying to flee Ukraine because the conflict is ongoing, so the additional support and additional promotion of that scheme would be very welcome.

[Chris Stephens]

I agree. It is important that we continue to promote the schemes that are available. We must be a welcoming nation and say to those in Ukraine that there is a place here at the moment with quality education and access to employment to help them get on with their lives. Of course, some people want to go back, and that is perfectly understandable. There are people from Ukraine who view this country as a refuge home, and they are hoping for the opportunity to return to their country.

The cost of living crisis has disrupted the finances of many hosts and local councils. I hope the Minister can talk about what funding will be made available to ensure that anyone who wants to continue with the Homes for Ukraine scheme is not priced out of doing so. It is important that we get those guarantees so we can take them back. The last year has placed unprecedented financial pressure on households, with the cost of living crisis playing havoc with people’s finances. Many hosts who opened their doors to Ukrainian arrivals last March could not have fully appreciated how bad the cost of living crisis would become, with inflation spiking at 10.5% by December last year.

From January, the UK Government support available to local councils appears to have been cut from £10,500 to £5,900 for each arrival. That short-sighted decision seems to have been taken without any consultation of the devolved Administrations, and certainly without consultation of local authorities across the board. As a result, some hosts now feel that they simply cannot afford to continue participating in the scheme, which is a pity. The Local Government Association has warned of the growing number of Ukrainians presenting as homeless to councils, particularly the significant rise in those who arrived on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. That backs up the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss).

Data released last month showed that 4,295 Ukrainian households have presented themselves to councils as homeless. That is a 40% increase since November 2022. I hope the Minister can assure us that we are not simply passing the buck to local councils, and that there will be sustained funding. The uplift in the “thank you” payment to hosts from £350 to £500 is welcome, but that should be available to all volunteer hosts to meet the increasing cost of living since March. I hope the Minister can assure us that there is continuing dialogue with organisations such as the British Red Cross, which is saying that the increase could come too late and will not always be enough. I thank all those who have participated in the debate, and I look forward to the Minister’s response.

--- Later in debate ---

[Felicity Buchan]

This may be a good opportunity for me to talk about how the schemes came about, and our thinking. First, I stress that both schemes give those who have arrived a three-year visa and, very importantly, the right to work, be educated and receive benefits here. The Ukrainian arriving here has the same rights under both schemes.

The family scheme came about because we wanted to extend the most compassion that we could very quickly. It was a temporary and more generous alternative to the family route, and it extended the number and type of family members who could come in. Homes for Ukraine is a very different scheme. It is unique. It is for those fleeing conflict who cannot rely on family support. As I say, individuals have the same rights under both schemes. The difference comes about because in one scheme there are no thank-you payments. We think that is appropriate, because in the family scheme people come over as family members, whereas in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, they have no connection to their host, so we think it appropriate to offer the host a thank-you payment.

The other difference is that the tariff payment to local authorities is paid under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. That is important because of the obligations on local authorities to, for instance, carry out safeguarding checks and ensure integration into the community. Those obligations are specific to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. I want to give hon. Members our logic as to why we see the schemes as separate, but the important point is that the individual has the same rights under both.

[Alison Thewliss]

I appreciate what the Minister says about why she makes those distinctions between the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the family scheme. However, a case that I dealt with in my constituency involved a person whose parents had come under the family scheme. The parents could not stay with their daughter, because she had only a one-bedroom flat, so there was no room for them. Those parents ended up being put up by my constituent—she wanted to help and had the space to do so—but my constituent was not entitled to any support payments for that. That made things quite fractious for the host, because she was not hosting them on the same basis as other hosts. Does the Minister agree that, for the people who fall in between those two stools, those circumstances seem quite unfair?

[Felicity Buchan]

There have been one or two examples, such as that of the hon. Lady’s constituent, where hosts thought that they were potentially hosting under the Homes for Ukraine scheme but were not. On homelessness under the family scheme, local authorities have an obligation to deal with homelessness regardless of which scheme a person comes under. I want to make that clear, because the £150 million fund is to relieve homelessness. It is not ringfenced, and it is for local authorities to decide how it is spent.

Let me pick up the point about housing benefit. We have amended the eligibility criteria to ensure that arrivals from Ukraine under one of the Government schemes are eligible for housing assistance from day one of their arrival. I believe there was also a question about family reunification. That does not fall within my remit; it is a Home Office matter.

Let me conclude. At every stage of this process, we have developed our humanitarian schemes in close consultation with Ukrainian leaders and, very importantly, the diaspora community in the UK to ensure that what we offer responds to their needs. The needs of Ukrainians will continue to be at the heart of our approach. I am hugely proud of what we have all achieved, cross-party, by putting politics to one side and instead focusing our collective efforts on supporting Ukraine and its people through the war. Today’s debate, with the strength, passion and commitment that has been on display, has left me more convinced than ever that Ukraine can and will win the war.

I will finish by thanking most of all the sponsors in the UK. Without their generosity and compassion, the scheme would simply not have been possible. On behalf of this House, thank you.

Voter Identification

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Lee Rowley]

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has managed to get in material for his usual social media clip. The reality is that we are trying to ensure the integrity of the ballot box for the long term. Ninety eight per cent. of people have access to ID. We will continue to work right up until May to ensure that those who do not have ID, but who want it, have it for the May elections.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

The turnover of voters in my Glasgow Central constituency is significant, due to a large student population and the housing mix in the city, which makes turnover high in general. Can the Minister explain how people will understand the requirements for voter ID in Westminster elections, when there are different franchises and different elections? The challenge for many of us when campaigning in elections is in getting people registered at all. Surely it will be the case that people will turn up on the day expecting to vote, but will not be able to do so.

[Lee Rowley]

The hon. Lady makes the important point that there are differences in how elections are run in some of the devolved Administrations, but that is nothing new. I say to her gently that her Administration are consulting on a proposal to greater vary how elections are run within the United Kingdom, and I encourage her to talk to the devolved Administrations about that. We will continue to do what we have outlined, which is to highlight the change to make as many people as possible aware of it and to encourage people to ensure that they can still vote, and vote in a way that is protected and has integrity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is a brilliant advocate for Lichfield. It may well be that his impassioned advocacy for the community that he has come to call Lich Vegas has meant that bids for the leisure centre might have been seen as de trop, but Burntwood certainly seems to be one of the communities that would be a prime candidate. I took the opportunity when I was in the west midlands recently to visit Willenhall to see how the levelling up fund was helping to transform communities there. My hon. Friend the Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) has done an amazing job in making sure that communities that have been overlooked and undervalued for years are at last getting the investment they need. That is levelling up in action.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

9. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the levelling-up funding allocated in the second round.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

19. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the geographical spread of the funding awarded in the second round of the levelling-up fund.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Dehenna Davison)]

The second round of the levelling-up fund will invest up to £2.1 billion in 111 vital local infrastructure projects. We prioritised investment in high-quality bids in places that have not previously received levelling-up fund money in order to maximise the spread of overall funding from rounds 1 and 2. In this round of the fund, two thirds of the funding went to those places in the greatest need, which we designated as category 1. In Scotland, across both rounds, the amount of money awarded exceeded our public funding commitments.

[Alison Thewliss]

The Earl of Rosebery said at the opening of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens 125 years ago that they would be

“open to the people for ever and ever”.

The M8 motorway driven through the centre of Glasgow was called the

“scar that will never heal”.

Can the Minister tell me why Glasgow’s bids to address both of those issues were rejected in a process that she has already admitted to Members of this House was rigged?

[Dehenna Davison]

I ask the hon. Lady to retract that statement, because in no way have I said that the process was rigged. It absolutely was not. The decision-making framework that we use was outlined in full, in writing, in the technical note that we published, and I would be happy to send her a link to it on gov.uk. She has raised the question of the People’s Palace, and I would be happy to sit down with her to talk about the bid once she has received the written feedback, to see if we can strengthen it for any future funding rounds, potentially including round 3 of the levelling-up fund, which will be announced in due course.

Levelling-up Fund Round 2: Bidding Process

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2023 Westminster Hall

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Anne McLaughlin) for securing the debate.

Back on 29 July, during a Conservative hustings in Tunbridge Wells, the now Prime Minister said:

“I managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure areas like this are getting the funding they deserved. We inherited a bunch of formulas from Labour that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas and that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that.”

What a cracking job he appears to have done.

I stand here extremely disappointed that the two bids from my constituency were not successful—although I am not here to be part of a greetin meeting—because the odds were stacked against us by the UK Government and the way in which they allocated the fund. They set up a competition based on pitting areas against one another instead collaborating. They chose small projects where they can go and cut a ribbon, rather than those based on strategic planning and what communities actually need—that grassroots approach that is central to successful levelling up. Indeed, if the Union is such a great success, why does it need so much levelling up? That is another question for the Government.

The first bid in my constituency that I want to talk about concerns the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, which celebrated the 125th anniversary of its opening on 22 January. At the time of its opening, the Earl of Rosebery declared it would be

“open to the people for ever and ever.”

The Victorians were very ambitious, but they had not figured out how to maintain a glasshouse in Glasgow 125 years into the future, so part of our bid was around the significance of the People’s Palace to the city of Glasgow. It is part of the history and heritage of our city and is tied into further heritage efforts, leading down from Glasgow’s historic cathedral, along the High Street and the Saltmarket to Glasgow Green, a place where people would gather to protest, as they still do today.

That bid, however, was not successful, and I seek an explanation from the Government as to why they value Glasgow’s heritage and future so little. The People’s Palace is special: it is a place where people can gather for music and community events, and my constituents had memorial benches in the glasshouse at the rear, but they cannot now go and sit on them to remember their loved ones. I want the People’s Palace to have a future—125 years into the future, at least.

However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East set out, without the money from this bid, Glasgow City Council does not have the necessary funds. The Scottish Government are tight for funds as well. This money was supposed to be additional; it was supposed to replace European money that we have lost out on. According to analysis by the Scottish Government, we are getting 60% less money from these funds than we would have done from European funding. It is just not fair. Everything has been stacked against us from the start. There is less money for these projects than we would have got were we still members of the European Union. That is the Brexit dividend that Glasgow is facing.

The other project was for transport, which, again, the city of Glasgow is entitled to bid for. In the late 1960s, the city fathers decided to drive a motorway through the city centre, demolishing things. At the time of its opening, protesters stood with banners saying, “This scar will never heal.” Glasgow’s transport bid sought to heal that scar from the late 1960s by greening the city centre and ensuring that there were accessible, green, active travel routes through the city—part of the legacy of COP26 in Glasgow.

Again, I cannot understand why the Government think that project is not worthy of support. It would knit the city centre back together. It would be such a change from the road projects of times past to have a more people-centred project for our city. We had no explanation as to why that was rejected. As my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East said, we were told, as was Glasgow City Council, that these bids had a very good chance of being accepted. Then, we found that the rules had been changed late in the day and that money had been spent by the council on these projects that we will never get back. That is £500,000 that the council could ill afford to lose, but it gambled on this project because it thought it was worth doing.

The other project I would like to mention is not in my constituency, so I will be very quick. I am the chair of Clyde Gateway—I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—which is a project to tackle the post-industrial legacy of that part of Scotland by dealing with historic chromium contamination in Shawfield. It had the full support of the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier). I can think of few better projects than one that would remove contamination from the ground, allowing for development to go ahead and new jobs to be created in the east end of Glasgow and into South Lanarkshire.

The Minister has many questions she needs to answer, but why does she think that none of those projects is worthy of support?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman will, I am sure, be aware that I had the opportunity of speaking to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee, which covers these questions. I was struck by the fact that Scottish National party MSPs and, indeed, a Green MSP were all eager for the UK Government to play an even more assertive role in deploying the levelling-up and UK shared prosperity funds. The rhetoric of a power grab 12 months ago has been replaced by a desire to work constructively. I should note, of course, that the Chairman of that Committee is the partner of his party’s Front-Bench spokesperson here, the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson). Those MSPs are, I think, closer to their communities than distant West—Westminster figures.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

That’s easy for you to say!

[Michael Gove]

I know. Some politicians don’t eat their own words—I swallow mine whole.

It is those MSPs who are closer to their communities, and unlike the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald), they want the UK Government to work with them.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

The Government are alive to all the concerns that the right hon. Lady mentions. We are collectively putting in effort to ensure that we close off areas where there are problems. Fundamentally, we are making sure that safety checks are completed at the point that the application is submitted and subsequently that the enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks are carried out. Finally, a representative from the council will see the sponsor and the guest to determine whether there are any safeguarding concerns. There are multiple gates through which people will pass in order to maximise the application of safety at all stages.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

Deborah Gourlay contacted me this morning to say that she has a flat in my constituency, wants to host somebody and has identified them—a mother and her young boy stuck in Warsaw. Deborah has put her application in, as has the other person, and they have heard nothing since. The email that they received basically said, “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.” How long will she have to wait before they can be matched up and this family can come to Glasgow?

[Eddie Hughes]

The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster), might have considered some of those matters during the previous urgent question. The amount of resource that is being committed to this is increasing by the day. The fluency of the process is improving by the day and, hopefully, the answer to the hon. Lady’s question will be: very soon.

High Streets

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2021 Westminster Hall

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Nokes. I thank the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) for bringing the debate to the Chamber and all hon. Members who have contributed for championing their local places. I have certainly picked up a few more places that I would like to visit. The play that the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) mentioned certainly has a lot of appeal for me with my family. I am sure they would enjoy coming to that. The hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) spoke so passionately that he could not help but sell his city, which is also going on the list of places to visit in the holidays.

I am sure that all hon. Members will be visiting my constituency very soon when they come to COP26, which is being held in Glasgow Central. Many of the local businesses in Glasgow Central are a bit nervous about that and about the road closures and the disruption that may be caused within the city. So that is all the more encouragement for hon. Members, when they come to Glasgow Central in a few weeks, to go out and spend their money in the local high streets round about. Finnieston is on the doorstep of the SEC complex, with many excellent independent shops and restaurants where it will be easy enough for hon. Members to spend money. Lots of local high streets in Glasgow have seen an uptick in visitors, as people have stayed more at home in the pandemic and have not been travelling, either further away to other parts of the UK or into the city centre.

Of course, there is a different challenge for city centres and how they rejuvenate after covid, having lost many big shops such as Debenhams, which is a huge retail space in Glasgow city centre. It is now a challenge for all of us to decide how to refill those spaces and rejuvenate the city centre. I am glad that Glasgow city council has a strong city centre strategy that looks to bring people back in to live in our city, but we need the services that come with that as well—the schools, the nurseries, the access to medical services and all those local things that make a community a home. That, and how we make it work properly, is the challenge for all of us at the moment.

I am glad to see that part of the city centre that has long been neglected—the historic High Street of Glasgow, the heart of Glasgow—has its own high street action plan. If anyone happens to be in Glasgow this weekend, ‘Mon The High Street Day is a series of events down Saltmarket and the High Street to promote that historic part of the city and see it come back to life. But there needs to be a whole strategy and approach to make sure that that can happen in each of our towns and cities. It will not happen on its own; it needs a wider framework.

Some of that is about changing how we move around our cities—getting people cycling and walking rather than driving through. Govanhill and Victoria Road have recently had cycle lanes installed. Some traders were upset about the loss of parking spaces but actually it has allowed businesses such as the Transylvania café to offer food and music, so people stop, stay and spend their money. We need to reimagine how those spaces in our towns and cities work to encourage people to stay and enjoy them, because it is about more than just retail.

The SNP supports the digital sales tax; for many years we have had the small business bonus scheme, which has removed many businesses from the business rates system, allowing them to start up, develop and grow their businesses. We are very keen on the 20-minute neighbourhood solution, which will allow many people to use their neighbourhoods more. All that is seen in the wider economic context. My hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was quite right to point out the impact on businesses of increased electricity and gas bills. I was speaking to the Federation of Small Businesses just today about that. The FSB is looking for support from the Government in the coming Budget not just for individuals, for whom this is very serious for heating and eating, but for businesses, which need to be able to open their doors, produce the materials that they sell and operate their businesses on our high street. They face a very difficult winter and need all the support they can have.

The Government have the opportunity to keep the VAT reduction. They reduced VAT during covid but many businesses in tourism and hospitality did not get the benefit because they were closed. If the Government keep the reduction rather than increase VAT, that would boost our hospitality and tourism sector. I will also make a plug for an issue close to your heart, Ms Nokes, of adding the beauty and hairdressing sector, because it could do with that VAT boost to bring people into towns and cities.

We have seen the £20 universal credit cut, which will take money out of local people’s pockets and out of their high streets. The national insurance rise is a tax on jobs, too. I challenge the Minister to respond to those issues, to help out the high streets and to make sure that people have money to spend in their local shops this winter.