Productivity and Economic Growth: East Midlands

Debate between Steve Darling and Jonathan Davies

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on his incredibly powerful speech and other colleagues from across the east midlands and nearby on the love they have shown for this part of the United Kingdom. We could almost say that we are under the moon of love—in fact, that reminds me that nobody has mentioned a great cultural export from Leicester: Showaddywaddy. I have fond memories of them from my childhood in the 1970s.

It is important that we reflect on where we have come from economically and the challenges that we face. The Tories crashed the economy—colleagues have covered that well—and the fact that we are having to pay so much interest on debt holds back our economy. The Liz Truss crash put some of the challenges that we face on steroids. The lack of investment over many years has affected the whole country, including the east midlands. The challenges we face in the south-west of England, as a part of the country that feels left behind, are not dissimilar from those that the east midlands faces. I represent the most deprived constituency that has a Liberal Democrat MP.

I would like to reflect on some of the positives. In my patch, we have an outstanding fishing industry, alongside the hospitality, electronics and photonics industries. That chimes with what colleagues have said about the manufacturing tour de force in the east midlands: whether it is Siemens, Rolls-Royce or Toyota, there are large companies powering the east midlands economy, and there are SMEs doing the same.

With so many Labour MPs here, I am afraid to tread on toes, but I will anyway. The national insurance hike has, sadly, had an impact on our economic growth and has led to uncertainty, speculation and delays to budgets. We desperately needed a firm hand on the tiller after the Tories, and it has not been there. I hope for the sake of the economy that we will see one soon. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is not a massive issue for companies like Toyota or Rolls-Royce, which have the capacity, but for SMEs and microbusinesses it is more of a challenge. I implore the Minister to reflect on that.

[Jonathan Davies]

The hon. Member mentions the national insurance hike. I am disappointed about that, but would he be content to see public services—education, healthcare and public transport—continue to fail people? We needed that investment to get the country back on its feet.

[Steve Darling]

Sadly, the investment that I had hoped to see in my hospital in Torbay has been kicked into the long grass. We still have hundreds of sewage leaks across the hospital, 85% of which is not fit for purpose. However, let me go back to discussing the east midlands, which is what we are really here to do.

As I was saying, SMEs will be challenged the most. I implore the Minister to consider that, as the Employment Rights Act is rolled out. Even HR reps acknowledge that this is important. Introducing it at the same time as the national insurance hike has resulted, effectively, in a double hit to the economy.