Budget Resolutions

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Catherine Atkinson]

I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. I acknowledge that there are many categories of people who we want to ensure have real priority. The Government already have the ambition to halve the number of prisoners who are released into homelessness, but, if we are to end rough sleeping and break cycles of offending, that ambition is not ambitious enough.

Just as it is morally offensive to us when we see someone sleeping rough in the doorway of a really high-end hotel, it should also offend us when we see the global elite and blue chip companies coming to Britain for our world-class justice while our own citizens are often left outside that justice system, getting rough justice. We should be rightly proud—and the Treasury mindful—of the huge contribution that international cases make to our country’s economy. In 2024 alone, the UK legal sector contributed £42.6 billion to the economy, and the UK is the largest legal services market in Europe and second only to the US globally, but we should be using some of that revenue to improve access to early legal advice and to legal aid, and to address the dire shortage in duty solicitors for our own people.

Lastly, there was positive news for our high streets, with the Budget taking many of our cafés, pubs and beauty salons completely out of business rates. The Home Secretary is putting police back on the frontline, and we have reversed the effective decriminalisation of shoplifting under the previous Government, but the justice system needs to work much faster for all of us, including on our high streets and in our town and city centres, where people need to feel safe if they are to want to be there and spend money.

But as well as fast, justice needs to be fair. It is not right for people on the minimum wage to face custodial sentences—potentially going up to two years’ custody—and not qualify for legal aid, leaving them unrepresented in court.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I am conscious of the number of people who want to speak in this debate, so I will continue.

It is not said often enough that this country’s dogged belief in fair rules for everyone is also a secret ingredient to business success—if your assets are protected, your contracts are enforced and your disputes are decided, that is one less risk—but there must be access to justice for our smaller businesses, as well as the larger multinationals.

There is more to do in our justice system. More is needed. I acknowledge that in the last spending review, the Budget for justice was increased by an average of 2.4%, but in the 2010s, justice spending was cut by 33% in real terms. Spending today is only on a par with what it was 24 years ago, in 2002, and it is lower per person than it was then. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the Ministry of Justice would need an additional £3.6 billion just to equal its spending per person before austerity. Many of the challenges facing the justice system today have their roots in that period of austerity. I will be knocking on the Treasury Ministers’ door as hard as my children were knocking on our neighbours’ doors last week at Halloween. This is not trick or treat; it is common sense. It is essential that we act now to avoid a jump-scare later on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I start by thanking the Chancellor for presenting us with the Budget, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for introducing today’s debate on growth in every postcode. When the Prime Minister began his tour of the country in August, he started in Ilkeston. There, he, the Secretary of State and I listened to people talk about the loss that they feel, having watched our town centre decline over decades. Whether I am in Ilkeston or Long Eaton, people in my constituency share that sense of loss. They remember how our town centres used to be. They had vibrant high streets and markets and great pubs. They were bustling centres of commerce and the beating heart of our community, all at the same time.

The Chancellor is absolutely right to help level the playing field by recognising the fundamental shifts in our economy, and helping out struggling small local businesses while asking thriving online giants to finally pay their fair share. Following the Chancellor’s announcement, almost 400 Erewash businesses will no longer need to pay a penny in business rates. That is money that they can now spend on creating jobs, pass back to their customers, reinvest, or keep hold of to reacquire some breathing space. More than 80 additional shops in my constituency no longer pay any business rates at all, and I know that the Chancellor will be very glad to hear that 10 great pubs have been given full business rates relief, including the fantastic Dewdrop in Ilkeston, and the Mill and Brook in Long Eaton.

[James Naish]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Thompson]

I will not, because so many people want to speak tonight. If the Chancellor is looking for somewhere to celebrate his first Budget, I invite him to Erewash to try out the newly done-up function room at the Mill and Brook, or perhaps enjoy one of the Dewdrop’s famous cheese and onion cobs.

I turn to the measures that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has introduced for families. I was heartened to hear him present such an extensive raft of measures to help pull back the cost of living for so many people across Erewash and the country. Alongside the removal of VAT from electricity costs and scrapping standing charges on gas, there is the direct £100 payment this winter. It is an enormous step that pulls down energy bills for more than 40,000 families, from Sawley to Sandiacre and Shipley View.

I also thank the Chancellor for his continued investment in Rolls-Royce. Royce’s is a huge employer in my constituency, and it is a great point of pride for us in Derbyshire that the most groundbreaking innovation in the world happens on our doorstep. The Chancellor has recognised how much Rolls-Royce and my constituents have to offer our country. That is what a Labour Budget is all about—rooting our economy in society and making them both fairer, and supporting working families, pensioners, carers and small businesses. It is great to have a Chancellor and a Government who listen to people, who will allow our communities to hope again, and who will put our communities back at the heart of our economy.