Employment and the High Street

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2022 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure, Mrs Cummins, to speak in this debate.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) on setting the scene so very well. We thank her for securing the debate, and thereby giving us all a chance to contribute.

It is very nice to see the Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) —in his place. I was referred to today as a poacher turned gamekeeper. That is probably very much the case with the Minister, because he participated in and supported us in such debates when he was a Back Bencher.

Our local high streets are the backbone of not only our economy, but our constituencies. Some local businesses on our high streets faced devastation through the covid-19 pandemic—subjected to a lack of footfall, temporary and permanent closures and, more recently, struggles with payments due to the rising cost of living. In my constituency of Strangford, there are high streets in towns such as Newtownards, Comber and Ballynahinch. Villages in my constituency also have many smaller, but unique, shops. The high street in the main town, Newtownards, thrives throughout the week, especially on Saturdays, when there is a local market. The hon. Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore) said that a shop in his constituency had been there for 60 years. Wardens—a family-owned firm that employs 55 people—has been in Newtownards for 145 years, and we have other family-owned shops that employ fewer people but still provide employment; for example, the butcher’s shop employs 65 people, although that is a massive store. We also have branded shops such as Peacocks and Argento. Comber High Street has a farmers’ market once a month, where local farmers can come together to sell produce made in the heart of Strangford’s farms and villages.

Coronavirus obviously had an impact on employment in our local high streets. As lockdowns lifted, the footfall was unfortunately not the same. I think that has now come back to a certain degree, although rising costs and prices have had an effect. Northern Ireland’s Minister for the Economy initiated earlier this year and last year a local high street voucher scheme. It is probably unique to Northern Ireland, although I know the Minister is aware of it. Every person aged over 18 in Northern Ireland was given a £100 voucher, and the scheme contributed some £140 million to the economy.

We also have some issues with derelict buildings, as has been the case in Court Street, just off High Street, in Newtownards, although I am pleased to say that we now have an ongoing regeneration plan. It is hoped that an area that was once housing and some smaller, unique businesses will be returned to the glory days of the past. Unfortunately, the very nature of derelict buildings brings other antisocial behaviours.

High streets and town centres have struggled in recent years as trends have changed. The hon. Member for Keighley and others mentioned online business. A few years ago, Excel Clothing in Newtownards recognised that although it had a lovely shop front on the high street, it needed to go online. The owner did that and now half his business is online. That is a good thing.

Young people today would rather find gifts online—order them and have them delivered—than go out and trek around the shops, whereas my wife, all her family and that generation love to go shopping; for them, it is part of the fun. I have to say that my wife Sandra does all the shopping; I just make sure the money is available!

We can provide encouragement to ensure our high streets are looked after and made good use of, especially coming up to Christmas. Our local economies feed into the economy of the country. I know that the Minister and the shadow Minister grasp the importance of the high street for us all, and we look forward to hearing their comments. We must make more use of the amazing businesses offered to us, the core of which has to be the high streets in my constituency of Newtownards and in everybody else’s constituencies.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Kevin Hollinrake)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Cummins. I congratulate the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) on securing this important debate. As I knew she would, she spoke passionately on behalf of her constituents and our high streets.

We all agree about the importance of high streets. As the hon. Lady pointed out, this is not just about our local economy: high streets are crucial to our local communities. On a national scale, the retail sector alone contributes around 4% of UK gross value added and almost 3 million jobs. She referenced the impact of e-commerce, and I agree with the shadow Minister about the need for us to establish and maintain a fair and level playing field—something I have often spoken about in Parliament. I join the hon. Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra), who called for more action on ensuring a fair and level playing field on taxation.

With 26% of retail sales taking place online, it is important to note that small high street businesses also trade online. That is about innovation but, as my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore) pointed out, it is consumers and consumer choice that are driving transactions online. We should not dictate to consumers where they shop, but that is nevertheless causing difficulties for our high street. I share the concerns of the hon. Member for Coventry North West (Taiwo Owatemi) about ensuring that we protect our high streets through this revolution—and it is a revolution—but we should not forget that it is consumers driving the revolution, rather than rates or any other issue. These are additional issues for retailers, but the primary issue is the customers in the first place and the footfall through different stores.

[Jim Shannon]

A shop in my high street moved from being just a shop front—an excellent and massive shop it is as well; probably four times the size of this room—to going online. It proved that by going online it could also maintain its presence on the high street. Can we do something to encourage businesses to do both—to have a shop on the high street and to be online?

[Kevin Hollinrake]

The hon. Member makes a good point. I was just going to come to his experiences shopping with his family in the physical high street. My family does that too. On Saturday, I was in Malton—one of the towns in my constituency—for Small Business Saturday. I too enjoy the experience of physically going shopping, and Malton is a wonderful example, as it created a new identity for itself as Yorkshire’s food capital. This is the future of high streets: a mixture of hospitality, leisure and retail. Malton has successfully done that, and there are lots of lessons to be learned from it.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) rightly pointed out that there is an opportunity for businesses to be not just a physical or an online retainer, but both or either. It is about the creativity of businesses in meeting their customers’ needs, and that is what we have to facilitate. Of course, there is a multitude of opportunities for employment, from flexibility to the development of new and portable skills. We also need to recognise retail as a rewarding career—something that the Retail Sector Council, which I co-chair, is keen to do.

The high street has struggled with the pandemic, which has caused difficulties. We should pay tribute to the creativity and resilience of businesses and their ability to respond to those challenges; we have all seen examples on our high streets. It is right that part of our mission is to ensure that our high streets and the communities that depend on them receive the investment they need to properly plan and grow for the long term.

The hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green talked about the lack of meaningful action from the Government, which is one thing I do not accept. At a local level, we have to ensure that our local authorities have the right plans for infrastructure to drive footfall, and ensure that goods and services flow easily, and businesses and consumers benefit from decent roads, affordable parking and a clean and well-cared for mixed environment. At a national level, the Government are doing much, including through initiatives such as our £4.8 billion levelling-up fund and the future high streets fund. Last year, we published our build back better high streets strategy, which identified many changes we need, and we have already gone a long way towards delivering on that.