Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Neil Shastri-Hurst

Thursday 12th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to help improve business confidence.

[The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)]

The Government were forced to make difficult choices in the Budget, but the fundamentals of doing business in the UK remain strong. The Government’s agenda of creating an industrial strategy, getting people back to work, reforming our planning system, rebuilding our relationship with the EU, pensions reform and more, is entirely focused on improving the long-term business environment across the UK.

[Dr Shastri-Hurst]

In the aftermath of the Budget, I spoke with many business leaders in my constituency of Solihull West and Shirley. Invariably, they told me that they are pausing recruitment and freezing their growth plans as a direct consequence of the decisions made around taxation and the Employment Rights Bill. What does the Secretary of State say to those businesses in my constituency that no longer have confidence in the Government and feel abandoned by their policies?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I say that the Budget was seven weeks ago, so if the Conservative party, which did not tell us how it would pay for the promises it made when it was in government, now has a plan to pay for those promises, I would welcome receiving it in writing, or hearing it here at oral questions or in a statement. The raw reality is that the Conservative party made promises that it had no intention of keeping. We are not going to do that; we will fix the foundations and do what we say. The reason this Government will succeed on growth and business investment in a way that the previous Government did not has to do with the fundamentals: the return to political stability in the UK; an openness to the rest of the world, including the EU—a difficult subject for Conservative Members, I know—which is still our major trading partner; and the willingness of this Government to use their mandate to improve the business and investor environment. Those fundamentals mean that the future of the UK is very promising.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Neil Shastri-Hurst

Thursday 5th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

Good product regulation and public confidence in our system are important across the board for every sector of the economy. My hon. Friend will have seen the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill in the King’s Speech. It will give powers to the UK Government to regulate in a range of fields. What she raises is exactly the kind of area we will be able to consider and debate in more detail.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

T8. Postmasters in my constituency, like many others, have had their lives adversely affected by errors in the Horizon IT system. When does the Secretary of State anticipate that the Horizon shortfall scheme appeal process will be fully operational?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I thank the hon. Member for his interest in this incredibly important issue and the work, which he will be aware of, that ensured that we got to this point. I think this is the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, and the moves to provide some form of redress are extremely important.

We have moved at pace to put the scheme in place. We were able to do so because of the legislation we got through in the wash-up at the end of the last Parliament. The hon. Member will have heard what I said about the letters that we got out to get that information to people. [Interruption.] What was that? We will take that up offline. I welcome his interest and will continue to work with him on it.