Businesses in Rural Areas

Jamie Stone Excerpts

Wednesday 18th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I want to make two brief points that have been raised with me in the highlands. First, the gov.uk One website is proving difficult, with customer services support problems. I do not expect the Minister to reply but I would be grateful if that could be passed on to civil servants.

Secondly, on 1 November 1965, the then Labour Government had the wisdom to put in place the Highlands and Islands development board. That was a red letter day because it helped to halt depopulation of the highlands, boosted little businesses and got them off the ground. It was a great body, and many of us in the highlands had cause to be grateful for its work over the years. Today, it exists as Highlands and Islands Enterprise which, I am bound to say, is not what its ancestor once was, notwithstanding its best efforts. The budgets are lower and it is less able to target resources.

Hon. Members know that I have a cordial relationship with the Scottish National party. We have worked together over the years in a friendly and amicable way, and I am saddened that its representatives are not here today to listen to my words. I wish they were, because perhaps they could take the message back to their masters in Edinburgh to say, “Please, look at this problem. It is too bad that this excellent organisation is withering on the vine.”

The Minister would be within his rights to say, “That’s devolved, mate.” But there is something called the Scottish election coming up next year, so I am speaking through the ether, as it were, to the structure of the Scottish Parliament in a year’s time: “Please remember my words, look at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and think about building it back to what it once was.”

--- Later in debate ---

[Gareth Thomas]

The hon. Gentleman underlines the need for significant investment in green energy. Other hon. Members referred to the need to support renewable energy, particularly community renewable energy schemes, as part of the solution to issues around rural prosperity and to tackle the energy challenges that we are all familiar with.

We are investing directly in rural areas through schemes such as the rural England prosperity fund, which is worth £33 million this year. That funding will provide capital grants for new business facilities for product development and community infrastructure improvements that benefit local economies.

We are committed to sustaining vital services and amenities in rural areas. Our £2.7 billion a year for sustainable farming ensures continued investment in environmental land management and nature recovery, underpinning the agriculture sector. We are also working to enhance access to banking, particularly in rural areas, including through the roll-out of banking hubs across the UK by the end of this Parliament.

Rural businesses can also look forward to benefiting from measures such as reforms to the apprenticeship levy, helping them to invest in skills—a key concern that was raised in this debate. I know that rural businesses, as well as businesses in urban areas, are really concerned about that.

We also heard a couple of contributions from hon. Members about the significance of post offices in their communities. Again, I recognise the critical role that post offices play in rural communities, and indeed, the potential for the Post Office to do more. As some hon. Members will know, we are bringing forward a Green Paper on the future of the Post Office shortly, which I hope will give further confidence about the potential for the Post Office to do more in rural areas, as well as more generally.

[Jamie Stone]

Will the Minister give way?

[Gareth Thomas]

I will for the last time.

[Jamie Stone]

The Minister may or may not know, although I thank him for it, that a banking hub will shortly open in Wick, in the extreme far north of the United Kingdom. I would be grateful if he could ask his civil servants to come up and take a look at it once it is up and running, because there might be something to learn from it as to how other very remote parts of the UK can be serviced.

[Gareth Thomas]

I thought the hon. Gentleman was going to invite me to come to Wick, but I will certainly pass on the invitation to my officials. We are keen to learn from the experience of the banking hubs that have worked, that are up and running, and that are now seen as being effective. There is more that the Post Office can do to provide more of the services that banking hubs provide, and we are keen to work with the financial services industry to make sure that that happens.

Hon. Members asked a series of questions about tax and I suspect that we will come back to those issues in a number of forms. I just say gently to the Opposition spokesperson that we inherited a very difficult financial situation—a £22 billion black hole. If we are to provide, as we rightly should, the schools, teachers, hospitals and police forces in rural communities, difficult decisions had to be made about the finances going forward.

Lastly, we also want to make sure that we are opening up new markets for businesses in rural communities to access, which is why the trade deals that we have agreed with the United States, India and—crucially, too—the European Union are so significant. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the importance of rural businesses to growth across the UK. We know that there is more to do in this space and we are determined to do it.