Supporting High Streets

Laurence Turner Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I was initially surprised to see this motion on the Order Paper, given that it is essentially a resubmission of a motion previous submitted by the Opposition and rejected by the House in February, but I should not have been. After all, they do say that culprits often return to the scene of the offence, and when it comes to the current parlous state of many of our high streets, the Conservative party is especially culpable. But really we should be grateful: today’s debate has been an opportunity to talk about the high streets in many of our constituencies that were so badly let down under 14 years of Conservative administration.

Northfield high street is home to some excellent and specialised vendors, but the street is tired in too many places, and problems relating to homelessness, addiction, shoplifting and other forms of crime stretch back many years. Three years ago, it looked as if the tide would turn, when great hopes—encouraged locally and nationally by the Conservatives—were raised over round 2 of the levelling-up fund. A bid was prepared for £11 million to regenerate the high street, but those hopes were cruelly dashed and not one penny of that funding was allocated to the city of Birmingham. Instead, much of that funding was redirected to leafier and more affluent parts of the country, as the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) so memorably boasted.

Our high streets are still dealing with the legacy of the hollowing out of West Midlands police in the 2010s, when the force lost 1,200 police officers and police community support officers. The local authority suffered the sharpest cuts to spending power of any unitary council over the past decade. Attempts were made to distract our constituents from the slow deterioration, with grand visions of schemes that were as solid as the wind. Five years ago, the then Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, published a transport map of the region as part of his election campaign. It detailed a prospective new metro line down Bristol road and through Northfield high street, but that metro extension was not mentioned again after the election and, as far as I can tell, no serious development work was ever done on the idea.

I have had to spend too much time since last July chasing ghost trains, spectral station upgrades, and phantom tram lines, and that approach has continued today with the will-o’-the-wisp pledge to abolish rates completely. That will not convince a single business in any of our constituencies. That is why today’s motion is so risible: it is the political equivalent of returning once more to kick the cracked paving stones, the empty units, and the broken bus stops that the Conservative party left behind.

I am glad that, under Labour, progress is now being made. Capital funding has been secured for infrastructure works on our transport network, which will mean more money in people’s pockets and greater footfall. Crucially, £20 million has been committed over 10 years to the Hawkesley estate through the pride in place funding. I am grateful to the Minister with responsibility for high streets, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), for promising to visit the constituency. When she does, we will talk with local businesses about credible policies that will assist their current position. These are real measures that will help businesses, not the fantasies of Conservative Members, who broke Britain but have come to the House today with not a hint of self-criticism, with no credibility and with no shame.

I will finish with a few words about the Employment Rights Bill—I draw attention to my connection with the GMB trade union. It is welcome that the Liberal Democrat amendment to the Conservative motion seeks to strike out the words about the Employment Rights Bill. I hope that represents a change in approach, and that Liberal Democrat Members will not again line up with the Tories and Reform when the Bill returns to the Division Lobbies tomorrow night.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Vickers]

My hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs made a very good point: we do not support workers by bankrupting their employer. In the nine months before this Government took office, 22,000 jobs were created in the hospitality sector, and in the nine months since the last Budget, 100,000 people lost their job—their ability to provide for their family, and to live out their aspirations and dreams. That is a disgrace.

The sector is also the natural home of social mobility. It allows people to climb and achieve incredible things. There are so many stories of people who started by stacking shelves and serving coffee, and who went on to reach the boardroom. Without doubt, our high streets are really struggling. The truth is that they were battered by the Chancellor’s Budget last autumn—a £25 billion tax bombshell on British businesses and jobs, as a result of measures including the jobs tax and the slashing of small business rates relief.

Conservative Members understand that businesses need to be supported, not tied up in red tape and taxed into extinction. If this Labour Government do not change course, we risk making our high streets unrecognisable and unrecoverable. The problems are clear for all to see: higher taxes, punitive business rates, soaring energy costs, rising crime and more red tape and paperwork for employers. The Government must take urgent action to fix that.

[Laurence Turner]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way; he is being generous with his time. I wonder if he could clarify his party’s position on the Employment Rights Bill. The shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), said that a Conservative Government would seek to repeal what he called the most damaging elements of the Bill. Could he set out for us which measures they welcome and would retain?

[Matt Vickers]

Basically, Labour’s trade union paymasters seem to have written a large part of the Bill. In fact, we found a really rare thing today: one employer on the face of the earth who apparently supports the Bill was mentioned earlier, but of course, they were not British.

In my constituency in Stockton, almost every time I visit a small business owner, they tell me the same story: since the Chancellor’s Budget, they have had to let staff go or reduce their hours; they have had to put up prices, and some are now considering whether there is any future at all for their business. As the chief exec of UKHospitality has said, pubs, bars and restaurants are already closing earlier because of the jobs tax, and more than 200 leading hospitality businesses have written to the Chancellor to warn that her decisions will force companies to cut jobs and reconsider investment.

Too many businesses are closing. Too many jobs are being lost. Boarded-up high streets will eat away at the pride people can have in their communities and town centres. Throughout today’s debate, we have heard Labour MP after Labour MP—soon, I am sure, to be followed by the Minister—talk about the virtues of their Government’s policies. I have to ask them, have they seriously had a conversation with the small businesses on their local high street about the challenges they face?

We are now just a couple of weeks away from the Chancellor’s next Budget. She has the opportunity to change course, yet this morning we heard the same old story, with the Chancellor laying the groundwork for more tax rises—another nail in the coffin of our high streets, alongside people and businesses across the country. But we on the Conservative Benches have a clear plan for stronger high streets. First, we would abolish business rates for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. That would benefit a quarter of a million businesses—savings that would not only help them thrive, but could be reinvested in better premises, low prices, and more jobs. It would lift thousands of businesses out of business rates all together.