Future of the Post Office
Sarah Gibson Excerpts(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)
I also thank the Minister for his statement.
Post Office branches across the UK are a vital part of our local communities and high streets, with millions of people depending on them, especially in more rural areas of the south-west, such as my constituency. The news that 115 branches and around 1,000 jobs could be at risk is extremely concerning. I am pleased to hear the Minister’s reassurances, but the organisation needs reform. Local communities cannot be left without the essential services that post offices offer, especially as we see high street banks disappear. The Government must guarantee that local services and post office jobs are protected.
We also urge the Government to take action to set the Post Office on a sustainable footing for the long term. The Liberal Democrats have put forward a proposal for mutualisation of the Post Office, which would give sub-postmasters more independence and control. We should encourage post offices to play a more active role in our local economies, acting, as Members have mentioned previously, as community banking hubs and Government services hubs.
These post offices are often the only non-digital places where a local community can access Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency services and passport services, or to prepay for their utility bills. These post offices are essential for some of our more elderly and vulnerable residents.
The Government have announced that they are looking into broader reform of the organisation, and they will produce a Green Paper next year. Will the Minister assure the House that these proposals, including mutualisation and strengthening the services provided by post offices, will be properly considered so that we can ensure post offices are fit for the future?
Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a final quick point—
Pub and Hospitality Sector
Sarah Gibson Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz.
I thank the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) for securing this important debate and I share his concerns about the issues that the hospitality sector faces. Having a background in architecture and construction, I find myself agreeing with him about the need to reform planning and licensing.
I also share the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) and the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) expressed about local village pubs. The land they are located on is so valuable for development that there needs to be stronger legislation to secure community assets.
I thank the hon. Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) for noting the importance of this sector in creating entry-level jobs. It is clear from the range of constituencies represented here that pubs and hospitality are important from the top of Scotland down to the south coast of England, and of course to Strangford.
As my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) mentioned, we all seem to recognise the challenges that this industry faces, from rising energy costs to supply chain issues to a shortage of staff. Despite the support for the industry across the House, we seem to continue to uphold a broken business rates system that is crippling our local pubs. According to the Campaign for Real Ale, our pubs are overpaying on their rate bills by approximately £500 million a year. Therefore, the Liberal Democrats urge this new Government to boost small businesses in the hospitality industry, such as our locally owned pubs, by abolishing business rates and replacing them with a commercial landowner levy.
The previous Conservative Government promised in their 2019 manifesto to review the business rates system and to ease that tax burden. However, on 17 October 2022, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt), told the House that that commitment was:
“Another of the promises I now vainly wish I had not made”. —[Official Report, 17 October 2022; Vol. 720, c. 430.]
Businesses are tired of being treated with such cynicism, and I truly hope that this new Labour Government will not treat businesses like that. After all, reforming the rates system is not just about boosting businesses; it is also about saving our local pubs from disappearing completely. In the last three years, 45 pubs in Wiltshire have stopped trading, which is devastating for the economies of small rural communities, such as those in my constituency.
Business Confidence
Sarah Gibson Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris, and to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats as their business spokesperson for the first time—I hope hon. Members will be nice to me.
I congratulate the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies) on securing the debate. I share her concerns about the high street, retailers and microbusinesses—like her, I have many in my constituency. I welcome the international investment summit and the Government’s industrial strategy, which will give businesses certainty and incentivise them to invest in new technologies, grow the economy, create jobs and tackle the climate crisis. However, page 5 of the strategy makes it clear that the Government will focus on urban areas; there seems to be no strategy for growing the rural economy. The Government say that they will devolve significant powers to the mayoral combined authorities, but I must ask the Minister what their plans are for areas of rural England that are outside metro mayoral authorities, such as my constituency of Chippenham.
A recent report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that about 14% of manufacturing happens in rural locations, and a considerable amount of that is significant to those regional economies. Many of those small and medium-sized enterprises specialise in areas such as food processing and equipment manufacturing, a lot of which comes from the diversification of farming families. Rural areas are at the forefront of the UK’s renewable energy production: 70% of wind energy, and a lot of solar energy, is produced in rural areas. Chippenham has a large number of rural solar farms, which are important, up-and-coming local businesses.
Planning takes twice as long in the UK as it takes most of our EU friends and neighbours, which is a barrier to investment. I share hon. Members’ concerns about planning delays for farming families trying to diversify; our complicated planning structure creates unnecessary cost for lots of small businesses in rural areas. Dave Ricks of drug manufacturer Eli Lilly stated that planning processes are an “impediment” to opening businesses in the UK, unlike in the US, Ireland and Norway. Johnson Matthey, which manufactures hydrogen fuel cells in my constituency and is the UK’s biggest investor in research and development in that area, said that it is really concerned that we will lose out to China, just as we did with battery technology, if we do not support infrastructure for hydrogen networks—it too faces planning delays. A recent DEFRA report highlights that 18% of rural businesses cite poor infrastructure, particularly digital and transport networks, as a significant barrier to growth. Again, the rural infrastructure simply is not there.
I am sure that many Members agree that, although the Conservative Government failed business and workers on stability over the last few years, the need for stability could never be stronger. If we expect businesses to commit to promoting skills, equality and good governance, and to supporting their local communities, we need to create a stable business environment, with smart regulation and investment in infrastructure, research and innovation.
Like the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti), I ask the Minister to take SMEs seriously given their importance to our rural economy. A serious issue that has come up time and again in my constituency is unfair tax hikes, especially hikes to business rates. I share the hon. Member’s concern about national insurance rises for small businesses, and especially for employers. I share the pain expressed by the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann) about the red tape suffered by businesses in Northern Ireland; businesses in my constituency that export to the EU are suffering from similar red tape, and my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) expressed his concern on behalf of small businesses doing the same in his constituency.