Supporting High Streets

Blair McDougall Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Blair McDougall)]

It has been a pleasure to listen and respond to this passionate debate. Before we get into the things on which we may disagree, I should say that it has been really interesting to hear how many times people have used metaphors like “heart and soul” and “backbone” when talking about their local high streets and local businesses.

This issue is personal to us; it is about how we feel about the places we live in. As a former retail worker, I remember the customers who would come in and maybe pay more than they would at the big supermarket because they got that personal touch. I remember the elderly customers who would come in, and I knew that I was perhaps the only other human being that they had had a conversation with that day. This is about entrepreneurship and business, but, as someone said, it is also about the soul of our communities.

It has been fantastic to listen to so many Members talking with great pride about high streets and businesses in their communities. The hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) invited us to Downing Street; I hope that is the only time that a right winger invites me to Downing Street for some years to come. We had a cultural trip to Weymouth and heard about the exciting plans there. I may also have a pint at the Swan in Windsor next time I go to Legoland with my children.

As someone who is no stranger to the sweet trolley, I look forward to the Cosy Cake Shop and Death by Fudge in Doncaster and also to another pint at the Fox & Goose and the T-Bar; I do not remember terribly much about the last time I was in there, because I was on a stag do. So much pride has been expressed, and I hope that everyone in the Chamber will repeat that pride in their local high street in a few days’ time on Small Business Saturday, because it helps to drive footfall and to support those local people.

We heard lots of talk from Members across the House. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and my hon. Friend the Member for East Thanet (Ms Billington) raised the issue of business rates and business rates reform. The Government are to remove barriers to investment, and to help businesses to succeed and grow. Reforming business rates was a key manifesto pledge, and it is one that we are going to fulfil.

The right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat), for whom I have some affection, and the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith), both quoted Napoleon—I do not know if that was a signal that they are not going to cross the Floor to Reform. I will be slightly more patriotic and quote Nelson: we cannot “turn a blind eye” to the cost of the tax measures that the Conservatives set out. Fiscal credibility and sustainability are not abstract concepts. Because we got the public finances under control, small businesses across this country have lower borrowing costs, and because of those interest rates, people across the country have more money in their pockets. We need a real plan, not a fantasy, which is why we will introduce permanently lower business rates for retail and hospitality in the Budget.

[Dr Luke Evans]

I previously tried to ask about the Government amendment that is going to be voted on, because it explicitly states that the administrative burdens of regulation for businesses will be cut by 25%. I have two questions: what is that 25% of and how will it be judged, and will it be from before or after the Employment Rights Bill comes into law? I put those questions to the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), but she dodged it and decided to attack the Opposition. I would be grateful if the Minister could tell me, because it is key information for the vote on the amendment.

[Blair McDougall]

We made it clear a few days ago that we plan to reduce the administrative cost of the regulatory burden by nearly £6 billion, and that is what we will do. Conservative Members have spoken about the Employment Rights Bill and their intention to repeal it, but they are forgetting that that Bill will set up a single regulator for the labour market, which will actually reduce red tape for businesses across the country.

[Damian Hinds]

Let me try to help the Minister, because Conservative Members are very keen to know the answer, and probably many of his colleagues are keen to know it too. It is one thing to say, “We would like to reduce the cost by 25%”—sure you would! The question is: how do the Government think they are going to realise savings of 25%?

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

It is the Government amendment in an Opposition day debate. How are those 25% savings going to be realised?

[Blair McDougall]

In a moment, I will come to our plans to reduce the mountain of red tape that the right hon. Member’s Government left us with, and to reduce the cost of that red tape.

Conservative Member after Conservative Member spoke about the Employment Rights Bill. I should say at the outset that we want the rights in that Bill to be fit for the 21st century—the last time that we properly reviewed our employment law and the relationship between employer and employee was in the last century. However, I am astonished that right hon. and hon. Members on the Conservative Benches do not seem to see the connection between how much money people have in their pockets and the ability of their local high streets to thrive. Giving people more secure work and higher wages means that the money in their pockets ends up in the tills of local businesses.

[Tom Tugendhat]

I am very grateful to the hon. Member for giving way—he is a friend, and he is a great man, but he is entirely wrong on this question. The argument he is making is a correct one, which is why I advocate for lowering taxes. However, this Government have raised taxes and rates for businesses, and if we are to believe what the Chancellor has been saying this morning, we have all been warned that she is about to raise taxes on individuals as well. That is costing us all, because people are reining in their spending in anticipation of being poorer.

[Blair McDougall]

I will return the compliment to my right hon. Friend before I disagree with him. This is the problem; there is a certain cheek to the Conservative party leaving us a burning building and then criticising us for reaching for the fire hose. We had to stabilise the public finances—and again, that is not abstract. The Conservatives have to learn the lesson—here comes the groan—from the Liz Truss Budget. They have to learn that lesson, because this is not abstract for businesses.

Returning to the issue of stripping out the costs of red tape, in March the Government pledged in our regulation action plan to cut the cost of regulatory burdens by 25%. At the regional investment summit last month, my right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Business Secretary made a great start on that, creating an additional £230 million of savings for businesses by changing the requirements on directors’ reports for businesses of any size.

[Graham Stuart]

As the Minister will be aware, according to the Government, that figure is less than 5% of the cost imposed on business by the Employment Rights Bill.

[Blair McDougall]

The cost of the Employment Rights Bill is around 0.4% of wage costs across the country, and the additional help that the Bill provides will have a huge impact on small businesses and high streets.

Many Members raised the issue of crime, but let me reassure the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), who spoke of the character of local areas, and suggested that there should be greater local powers to control the spread of gambling shops. We intend to deal with that when time allows.

For 10 years we waited for a small business strategy, and in July we introduced one. We are taking action on late payments for businesses, on access to finance and on cutting red tape. Across this Government there is an urgency—it is there today, and I wish it had been there before—to support small businesses and help to get our high streets back on their feet.

Question put, That the original words stand part of the Question.