Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 13th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jamie Stone]

In conversation this morning with Trudy Morris, the CEO of the Caithness chamber of commerce, she outlined the sheer importance of tourism businesses to the local economy and the farmers in Scotland. The concern expressed to me is on the rate of VAT on tourism and similar businesses, and although we do not know whether the Highland council will impose a tourism levy, that could be a double whammy. I do not expect for one instant hon. Members on the Front Bench to say, “Jamie, you can have a cut in the rate of VAT”—well, I dream sometimes—but I would be grateful for a meeting to discuss the nature of the problem and how we could possibly tackle it.

[Mr Speaker]

You might get a chocolate biscuit these days.

[Gareth Thomas]

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman, as I cannot fulfil his dreams right now. However, I am happy to meet him to talk about that issue. I recognise that there is considerable interest in that question from the hospitality industry, so I am happy to meet to hear, in a bit more detail, the particular concerns expressed to him.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

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[Gareth Thomas]

I say gently to the right hon. Gentleman and his Conservative colleagues that we had to take the difficult decisions in the Budget to increase employer national insurance contributions because of the mess that their party left the country in. The shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), helped to write the Liz Truss Budget that did so much damage to our country—we are trying to sort out the mess. The shadow Secretary of State still has not apologised for his part in that fiasco. He should take the opportunity to do so during these questions.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)]

Yesterday, the owner of the hugely popular Rumsey’s, which is celebrating 21 years on Wendover high street in my constituency, emailed me to say:

“We estimate the changes coming in April will add 15% to our staff costs that we simply don’t have. Therefore we have had to sadly make redundancies, put in a recruitment freeze and implement staff hour cuts to offset this.”

With real-world testimony like that replicated up and down the country, will the Minister finally acknowledge that an urgent change of course is needed to support high streets, scrap the employer NI rise, save jobs and protect communities?

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)]

My hon. Friend is a great champion of the social enterprise sector. She will know that we are committed to doubling the size of the co-op and mutuals sector. We recently met the recently launched mutuals and co-op business council to begin working with businesses on our plans to expand the co-op and mutuals sector. She may also be aware that our social enterprise boost fund is currently spending some £4 million on helping to support social enterprises that are already up and running.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrats spokesperson.

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[Gareth Thomas]

We know that rural businesses want to see more investment in bus services and better transport infrastructure. My hon. Friend will appreciate that the Chancellor announced in the Budget some £650 million-plus in funding for local transport, which is designed to support everyday journeys and improve transport connections. I am sure, too, that she will welcome the better buses Bill, which is coming in to give local authorities—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Seamus Logan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 12th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Thomas]

I commend my hon. Friend on her work with the Ramsgate empty shops action group. Her experience on her high street is sadly echoed up and down the country—under the Conservative party, vacancy rates on our high streets shot up. High street rental auctions, which are the new powers that my hon. Friend alludes to, will help local councils to bring vacant units back into use, working with local communities. That will hopefully help to drive co-operation between landlords and councils and make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable. We are encouraging local authorities to take advantage of those powers. As I suspect my hon. Friend already knows, colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are looking to do further work in this space.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Oliver Dowden.

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[Gareth Thomas]

Despite the considerable cold, I very much enjoyed my recent visit to Gateshead town centre, and I was impressed by the dynamism of the businesses that he and I met at his instigation in the railway quarter. One of the things we are determined to do is to increase access to finance for small businesses up and down the country. That is why we have provided over £1 billion across this year and next year for the British Business Bank, particularly to drive access to finance for small businesses such as the ones to which he introduced me.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

One of the ingredients for a successful high street is having a post office in the mix. The Government have inherited a network of 11,500 post offices, and that number has been stable since 2010. Will the Minister commit to supporting high streets by maintaining the scale of the post office network in this Parliament?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Thomas]

The hon. Gentleman is an assiduous champion for his constituency in this House. If he wants to bring his chamber of commerce to meet me to discuss issues in his constituency in more detail, I will happily make time to meet him and them.

[Mr Speaker]

We are 10 minutes gone and still on Question 1. We need to speed up a little bit. If the Minister could look at me, that would be helpful, so that we are going through the third person. I know that Mr Shannon is popular, but even so, it should go through me. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

In my constituency, the number of people shopping on our high streets has not returned to pre-covid levels, and we have lost anchor stores such as Marks & Spencer, and several banks. The Government urgently need to save our high streets, but the reduction in retail, hospitality and leisure business rates relief from 75% to 40% will come as bad news for thousands of businesses. When will the Government deliver a fundamental reform of business rates to save our high streets and end the penalising of productive investment?

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[Gareth Thomas]

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman welcomes, I think, the measures we took in the Budget to raise employment allowance to help the very smallest firms. The Federation of Small Businesses said yesterday that it will be a very big help for small firms. On his wider point about the Budget, I gently say to him, as I am sure he knows only too well, that the economic inheritance the Government face has led to our having to make some very tough decisions. If he does not support the measures we have set out in the Budget, he needs to say how he would finance the extra investment in the NHS and in industry that we have set out.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

Wokingham has one of the highest rates of business survival when compared with the averages for the south-east and Berkshire, but yesterday’s announcement that the Government will raise employers’ national insurance throws that into doubt. The hike is, plain and simple, a tax on jobs that will deal a hammer blow to our small businesses. What will the Government do to mitigate the impact on small businesses in my constituency and across the country?

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[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

T4. We will take no lectures from the Conservative party about business. Plenty of us have experience of business, and I am one of them.Many high street businesses want to continue accepting cash. Just as importantly, so do many of my residents, particularly the elderly, disabled and vulnerable. I have spoken to the citizens advice bureau, which is hearing how concerned elderly residents are. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the Post Office can better offer banking services on the high street to cater for the spenders and recipients of cash?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. These are topical questions, and they are meant to be short and punchy, not speeches. I am sure we can find time for an Adjournment debate for the hon. Gentleman.

[Gareth Thomas]

Given that almost 9,500 bank branches closed over the past 14 years, on the Conservative party’s watch, it has increasingly been left to the Post Office to provide vital banking services on the high street. I am sure the banking industry recognises its responsibility to work with us to ensure that sub-postmasters, whose pay has not increased for a decade, and the Post Office have what they need to help meet the critical cash and banking needs of all our constituents.

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[Gareth Thomas]

We have held discussions with a range of organisations on exactly that issue. I promised the hon. Gentleman earlier that I would meet him. If he wants to add that to the list of subjects that we talk about, I am happy for him to do so.

[Mr Speaker]

You do like Mr Shannon.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

In Doncaster, we have an innovative chamber of commerce and a fantastic set of local businesses. As well as the much-needed upgrade to workers’ rights, can the Minister update the House on what we are doing to kickstart a skills revolution for businesses in Doncaster and across the country? Can he also update the House on what he is doing to work across Departments to ensure that happens?

[Gareth Thomas]

As others across Whitehall have already set out, we have established Skills England and begun the process of reforming the apprenticeship levy to help businesses get better access to the skills they need.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Perran Moon for the final question.