Business Confidence

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

It is a real privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies) on securing this important debate in a very timely manner. It is so timely because the more I speak to businesses or business organisations, the more the phrase “holding pattern” comes up. That is down to of the uncertainty that has been created in the first 100 days of this Labour Government. Frankly, a lot of business organisations and businesses thought that the promise of change meant change for the better. Clearly, that was not the case, because, as we have just heard, the business confidence monitor of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales—I am a chartered accountant by profession—has dipped. That is consistent with what we are seeing across the patch.

Politicians often refer to businesses and small businesses, which I used to cater for—when I was president of the Greater Birmingham chambers of commerce, the majority of our members were small businesses—as the lifeblood of our communities. That is a very easy phrase to put out there, but it has to be more than a slogan. They are the businesses that define what our communities stand for. They are the ones that create jobs, take risks and create the real wealth.

Like my hon. Friend the Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield, I welcome the investment, but I think the figures of the new and old money will be disputed— I am sure we will do that in the main Chamber and in here. As I have said before, the Government’s successes will be the country’s successes, so we welcome that level of investment, but investment only comes when businesses have confidence to invest.

It is about not just domestic investment but international investors. The Labour Government often talk about what they have inherited. As I was the Minister responsible for tech and the digital economy up until the election, I know that we had the third most valuable tech economy in the world. We had some of the highest levels of investment and were the fastest-growing in the G7. That was all defined by the fact that people felt confident enough to invest. Weeks before the general election was called, we had about £2.5 billion come in in one week.

I want to stress the importance of business confidence and economic confidence. Damage is done when the Prime Minister talks about there being worse to come. On the back of the political choices the Government are making, there may well be worse to come, but they will not be able to deliver on the economic growth and public sector investment they want if the private sector does not believe that they can do it.

There has been a lot of chatter about moving the goalposts on fiscal rules. There is no magic money tree, as has been said. There is no definite way of putting money out there without the chickens coming home to roost. There is always a price to be paid, and the burden will be borne by the businesses of the United Kingdom. They will be the ones that will be taxed. It is incredibly worrying that we have not had clarity on the capital gains issue. I think there was a report yesterday, but I will wait for the Chancellor to come to the Dispatch Box to confirm that capital gains will not rise, because that will affect investor sentiment.

National insurance is very much in the media today, and that question is really hampering because if employers have to pay more national insurance, the cost will be borne by consumers. That will affect demand and recruitment and labour decisions—I say labour with a small l, but there might possibly be a big L involved at the next election if there is such an impact.

My community is very entrepreneurial and there are businesses there, as well as businesses in my business forum, which all hon. Members are welcome to join. Britain is a great place to do business, and it is a great place to invest and grow, but that is despite this Labour Government.