Oral Answers to Questions

Laura Kyrke-Smith Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Thomas]

I think the hon. Gentleman, in his own way, is congratulating the Government on increasing police numbers in his constituency, and he is certainly right to do so. We have committed to an extra 3,000 police officers over the course of this financial year and a total of an extra 13,000 by the end of this Parliament. We are also taking action to end the immunity that his party introduced for shoplifters and taking steps to increase the powers that the police have to take action when shoplifters and others are violent against retail staff.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

7. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.

[Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)]

13. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)]

Our small business strategy will be published later this year and will set out our plans to champion entrepreneurs, improve access to finance and help small and medium-sized enterprises to reach more markets and adopt new technology. As I alluded to earlier, we are developing our plans for our new business growth service, simplifying access to support and advice for small businesses. We are also tackling the challenge of late payments, including the introduction of a new fair payment code and upcoming legislation requiring large companies to report annually on their payment performance.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith]

In Aylesbury town centre, we have some fantastic businesses, from Darlington’s to the Rockwood pub and Nafees bakery. They provide an amazing service to the community, but with issues such as traffic, parking and antisocial behaviour, they can struggle to get customers into town and through their doors. I congratulate the Minister on the work he is doing, but can he tell us more about how his small business strategy will support our high streets and town centres, like Aylesbury, to thrive?

[Gareth Thomas]

I very much enjoyed my visit to my hon. Friend’s constituency and the roundtable we had with some of the fantastic businesses there. I very much hope that Conservative-controlled Buckinghamshire council will finally get its act together and sort out some of the traffic and parking issues she mentioned. We will set out our plans to do more to help small businesses across the country, including in Aylesbury, in our SME strategy. One particular measure that we will be able to take action on is to improve access to finance for small businesses, following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s significant increase in the capacity of the British Business Bank yesterday.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order. If there is so much to say, the Minister should bring forward a statement, or let us have a debate on this very important subject. I do not know how she will explain to MPs that they will not get in, because I am now going to topicals.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

T1.  If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

Since our last oral question time, we have secured three major trade agreements to boost British exports and drive growth across the UK. This Government are delivering trade deals that benefit businesses and put money in workers’ pockets, and are securing deals that other Governments promised, but failed to deliver. We have an agreement with our largest trading partner, with the biggest economy in the world, and with the fastest-growing big economy in the world. As we have heard, the India deal alone will boost wages by £2.2 billion a year when fully operational. Our new strategic partnership with the EU could add nearly £9 billion to our economy by 2040, and the UK was of course the first country to secure a deal with President Trump. I can also confirm that in the past week, we have hosted delegations from the US and China, in order to assist them in their negotiations with each other. As I have always said, under this Government, the UK will be the most open and best-connected economy in the world.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on his excellent work. The Government’s decision to suspend their trade negotiations with the Israeli Government last month was absolutely the right one, but some constituents have been in touch in confusion after trade envoy Ian Austin’s visit still went ahead. Can the Secretary of State affirm that this Government’s position is that we will not be deepening our trade ties with the Israeli Government while the situation in Gaza and the west bank remains so appalling?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. Yes, I can reaffirm that position. As she says, the Foreign Secretary announced on 20 May that we have suspended negotiations on an upgraded free trade agreement with Israel in response to the egregious actions of the Netanyahu Government in Gaza and the west bank. Of course, the UK has existing business relationships with Israel that are not affected by that decision, and we maintain trade envoys with both Israel and the Palestinian territories. What we all want is peace, a two-state solution and a strong UK relationship with both states.

UK-US Trade and Tariffs

Laura Kyrke-Smith Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

The hon. Gentleman has skilfully raised issues relevant to the autumn statement that are more for the Chancellor than for me. Products from the food and drink industry form a prominent part of our economic exports. Because of that industry’s success and what it means to the prosperity of every bit of the United Kingdom, it features heavily in all our decisions, whether on trade, business support, export support or the wider regulatory and policy environment. I assure the hon. Gentleman that his constituents and the excellent and successful businesses in his area are always prominent in our thinking.

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his hard work and for his calm and pragmatic approach. In my constituency of Aylesbury, there are almost 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses, several of which export to the US or have been seeking to do so. Will the Secretary of State set out what he is doing to protect our SMEs in his ongoing negotiations with the Trump Administration?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

Fundamentally, I want to see greater market access to the US for small and medium-sized businesses in every part of the UK. We can tackle particular things as part of that, such as the regulatory system in the United States and the federal-state dichotomy, particularly for services and exports. All that is the prize on offer if we get this right. A big part of trade policy is also about not just free trade agreements, even though they tend to get the most prominence, but how we come to agreement on e-commerce and functions of online marketplaces and transactions. All that is a very practical difference that we can make, through good trade policy, to small and medium-sized businesses. That will be a premium and important part of the trade policy we are about to publish.

Budget Resolutions

Laura Kyrke-Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on delivering the first Labour Budget in 15 years, and on doing so as the first ever female Chancellor.

Speaking to residents in and around the Stocklake area of my constituency over the weekend, I was glad to hear positive feedback and optimism following the Budget. Of course we had to make tough choices, but people get that, and personally I am very proud of the choice we have made to invest in our public services first and foremost and to get them working for people again.

There is much to commend in the Budget, and I want to highlight four points. First, the national minimum wage has increased to £12.21 per hour, which has been very well received by my constituents. Over 9,000 people in Buckinghamshire are on the national living wage, and they are all set for a pay rise. Secondly, the core schools budget has increased by £2.3 billion, and £1 billion has been allocated to support children with SEND, which I know cannot come soon enough for my constituents. Thirdly, there is a commitment to infrastructure investment, including the commitment to East West Rail, which I know will unlock growth and opportunity. I will keep pushing for the Aylesbury spur to link up with that. Finally and most importantly, we have made a huge commitment to the NHS in this Budget, including through a £22 billion increase to day-to-day spending and £3.1 billion of capital investment, which will be used to bring waiting lists down, invest in new technology and deliver 40,000 extra appointments every week, including at Stoke Mandeville hospital. I am excited about the budget for mental health, which will be crucial.

I am conscious that improving our nation’s health will take time, and that our goals are necessarily long term. I was reminded of that at this morning’s parliamentary launch of the fantastic Health Equals campaign, which highlights the work that we have to do to tackle the social determinants of health inequalities and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy. However, this Budget delivers the biggest cash injection into the NHS outside covid years since 2010, which has put us firmly on the road to recovery. This Budget is firmly on the side of those who need our support, and firmly on the right side of history, and I cannot wait to see what it delivers for my constituents in Aylesbury.