Business Confidence

James McMurdock Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[James McMurdock (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Reform)]

It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris, particularly on this topic of business confidence. My constituency of South Basildon and East Thurrock is rich with potential. Basildon is the industrial powerhouse of Essex, and Thurrock commands a prime location on the Thames. That is not to say that both spots are without their challenges. Basildon faces a significant housing crisis, and the high street is suffering, as many high streets are. But with that comes a desire to improve things, and to improve things we need businesses to invest. It goes without saying that those businesses must have the confidence to do so.

Thurrock was unfortunately embroiled in an investment scandal to the tune of £1.5 billion and is in a very difficult situation. The interest servicing that debt alone is approximately 40% of its operating budget, so one can imagine the challenges it faces. That is exactly why we need investment and growth and business confidence. Some specific figures have been given on the dip in confidence, which I would say is—to put it lightly—unfortunate.

It would also be putting it lightly to say that I was somewhat dismayed to hear of decisions made in the past few weeks that will directly impact my constituency, such as the delaying—again—of the lower Thames crossing. I have spoken against the lower Thames crossing because I do not feel it is ambitious enough. Given the 15 years and £800 million spent on its planning, to be in approximately the same state of overextension in our road capacity in just a decade’s time—just five years after its completion—does not seem to be a good use of £9 billion of taxpayers’ money. That said, the decision taken was not to scrap the plan or not go ahead with it; the decision was to delay it, which I might consider to be uncertainty.

Furthermore, as we have seen in the papers, I was somewhat taken by surprise—that is also putting it gently—by the language used to respond to a business that does something legal, but which some people may not like, which was akin to language used in my university days. I am referring to the £1 billion project, relating to DP World, that was jeopardised. DP World is an extremely important business for not just my constituency but our country. It is the only operator with two deep-sea access area ports, and has direct freight to distribute goods across our country that come in from all over the world. It is essential. Whether people have workers’ rights in mind or not, for it to be treated with a slight lack of the professionalism that we might expect from those in high office was a shock to me, and to local businesses as well.

I conclude by saying that my constituency wants to enrich this country. My constituents want to work hard and to invest and they want their businesses to flourish, and they are willing to put in the time and effort to achieve that. We have all the ingredients to do those things. However, just this month alone, we have seen two projects totalling £10 billion very literally jeopardised. Does the Minister agree that that is not good enough, and that, going forward, more considered and professional language must be used when communicating with or about our major industries and businesses? Will the Minister also consider the approach to major infrastructure projects and how delaying them impacts not just residents but local businesses? There are knock-on effects of such delays—we have building projects right now that are literally dependent on the lower Thames crossing, which has been delayed.