Backing Business to Create Economic Growth

Callum Anderson Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

The urgent need for, and the strategic imperative of, economic growth matters nowhere more than in Buckingham and Bletchley. My constituency lies at the heart—the engine room—of the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. If we get economic growth right, it will enable us to support high-growth businesses across my constituency and beyond, strengthening the local economies of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keyes and enabling the UK to develop a strategically important economic region. It will build a globally competitive, modern British economy, with higher wages and more opportunities for the families and communities I represent in Parliament.

In addition to the measures that the Government introduced in the first parliamentary session, I established the Bletchley investment taskforce, bringing together local leaders, employers and investors, as a vehicle to attract the businesses, investment, jobs and apprenticeships that communities in my constituency need. In the coming weeks we will publish our first investment prospectus for Bletchley, and I am grateful to colleagues from across Government who have been supporting our work.

In Bletchley, firms such as Pulsar Fusion and Carnot Engines are developing innovative technologies that are global leaders. On the other side of my constituency, the advanced engineering cluster surrounding Silverstone is home to a number of world-leading Formula 1 teams, again showing that when Britain invests in its people we can be global leaders.

There are also parts of my constituency that are home to a number of rural enterprises, family farms and small independent businesses, which are all contributing to local growth and prosperity. Those businesses are asking not for special favours but for the right conditions to grow: access to capital and talent, fair regulations, and lower barriers to trade. That is why I welcome a number of the measures in the King’s Speech.

The regulating for growth Bill is particularly welcome because over the last 25 years Britain has become a country, as Members across the House have mentioned, where the regulation system is too slow, too fragmented, and poorly suited to confront the pace of modern technological change. Other Members have also mentioned the enhancing financial services Bill and the wider Leeds reforms that will come with it. I congratulate the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Northampton North (Lucy Rigby), for all the work she did to lay the foundations of that Bill.

Financial services are one of Britain’s great strengths, providing the investment that drives growth across all sectors of our economy. That is particularly relevant to Milton Keynes, as it is home to a growing suite of financial and professional services firms such as Santander and Allica Bank, both of which employ people in my constituency. A globally competitive financial services sector is imperative in enabling high-growth companies in my constituency to access the capital that they need to innovate and create jobs. However, we also need to mobilise more British capital towards British assets, particularly high-growth companies. As many Members debated in the last parliamentary session, it is now important that the Government focus on implementing the Pension Schemes Act 2026.

I also welcome the small business protections Bill. Late payments and non-payments continue to damage firms of all types and sizes across the country, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, particularly those operating within tight margins. The stronger protections in the Bill for smaller companies will help local firms across my constituency.

I will not be as effusive about the European partnership Bill as some other Members who have spoken, but I believe it is in the national interest to take the required measures to reduce unnecessary friction for exporters and businesses trading with our European neighbours, regardless of whether they are farmers or other high-growth companies. The success of the King’s Speech in the coming months will depend on whether we match it with the ambition of local companies, such as the ones in my constituency. I look forward to playing my part in ensuring that those measures are implemented as soon as possible.