Business of the House

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the work of the Courtyard Pantry Enterprise, because small businesses are at the heart of our economy. We are committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises through our small business plan, which will break down barriers to starting a small business. We are working across Government to make sure that farms and farmers are brought into that, because it is a great opportunity. I invite my hon. Friend to go into these matters in further detail, perhaps in the pre-Christmas Adjournment debate.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

Yesterday, I hosted a mulled cider event with the National Association of Cider Makers. Cider makers in Glastonbury and Somerton are increasingly focused on survival, as uncertainty grows around future inheritance tax relief. Cider making is uniquely capital-intensive and requires special equipment for milling cider apples, so many family cider businesses exceed the £1 million threshold. Will the Leader of the House bring a little festive cheer to my cider makers in Glastonbury and Somerton, and advise me on how I might meet the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss the impact of changes to agricultural property relief on cider makers?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

That is probably more a Treasury matter than a matter for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It will be the Second Reading of the Finance Bill next Tuesday, and I am confident that Committee stage of the Finance Bill will take place in the new year, once we return from the recess; the hon. Lady may want to raise these matters directly with the Treasury then.