Reducing Costs for Businesses

Geraint Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister and the Prime Minister claim that there are 400,000 more people in work, but the Office for National Statistics says that there are 506,000 fewer. Why is that? Because the Government do not include the self-employed. What a laugh. They have said that there are 1.1 million vacancies, but that is because 1.4 million people have stayed in the EU. These are empty jobs. There are fewer jobs and fewer people working.

The Government talk about tax. Last year, the Chancellor imposed £40 billion worth of tax, 2.7% of GDP. That was virtually unprecedented: these were 1950s tax levels, and, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, they were almost entirely unrelated to the pandemic.

The reason for this is, of course, low growth. We should be, on trend, at a 40% higher level of earnings, for people’s pockets and for the economy as a whole. Let us compare that with Labour’s record. Labour produced a 40% increase in the size of the economy in the 10 years to 2008, and invested in doubling the size of the education and health systems. The choice for the electorate is clear: high growth and investment in public services, or low growth, high tax and cuts, which is what we are seeing now.

What business wants—my background is in business—is market access, a skilled workforce and cost-controlled stability, but that is being ruined by a botched Brexit. What we want is more engagement with the nearest biggest market, which is the European market. We want customs co-ordination with the EU so that we can get the tariffs off. Of course, if we were in the customs union, we would not have tariffs from the United States, but now we do. Why do we not work together, instead of blowing raspberries? We want support for the high street. I support what my Front-Bench team are putting forward. I also support the idea that local authorities should be empowered to have their own virtual hubs, or virtual marketplaces to compete directly with Amazon, with profits going to subsidise local services.

Let us have a strong economy to pay for a fair society, not a weak and divided economy and a divided society. Labour is backing business. Ultimately, we need a strong economy and Labour will deliver that, as we have in Wales.