Reducing Costs for Businesses

Suzanne Webb Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Suzanne Webb (Stourbridge) (Con)]

Time and again, I and other Members on the Conservative Benches have risen to oppose motions such as this from an Opposition who believe £407 billion in support throughout the pandemic has not been enough. At every turn, they have sought to undermine the measures that the Government have put in place to support businesses, and they have had the temerity to do so with no costed plan of their own. Instead, we must all wait for the Leader of the Opposition’s costed manifesto at the next general election.

Of course, it would not be the Labour party if there were not already a few uncosted measures thrown around here and there. One example was scrapping business rates, which was announced jubilantly by the shadow Chancellor at the Labour conference, only to be watered down later, probably because Labour eventually worked out that it did not know how it would pay for that. Perhaps it would do so by raising corporation tax, income tax or stamp duty or by more borrowing. It would give with one tightly pinched palm now but take with heaped handfuls later.

I am of course happy that these motions give me the chance to outline how Stourbridge’s businesses and employees have benefited from a Conservative Government managing this pandemic. As Conservatives, we believe that private sector innovation is the key to a strong economy. We do not just believe in it, however; we deliver it. Since 2010, over 1 million more businesses in the private sector have been created across the UK thanks to this Government’s policies. In the west midlands alone, over 50,000 more businesses have been established since 2010, thanks to this Government.

The Opposition’s motion today makes the astonishing claim that businesses have been affected by low growth. That is simply not true. The UK is the fastest-growing economy in the G7, with almost 6% growth in the first three quarters in 2021. The Conservative Government’s management of the pandemic, coupled with our exceptional economic growth in private sector innovation, has benefited working people too. Nobody would deny that businesses have experienced one of the toughest environments in a generation, but billions of pounds of loans and grants have kept the economy moving. Economic growth has not been disrupted as expected, and the labour market came back strong. It is a labour market that has seen 61,000 new jobs created since March 2021 in the west midlands alone.

Our economic plan is working: employment is up, growth is up and businesses are starting to make a recovery. It was this Government who promised my constituents that we would do whatever was needed to provide security and stability, and that applied to the businesses too. This is a Government who encourage business investment, innovation and productivity, and who are giving every business the opportunity to grow and innovate. It is a Government who are bold and committed to building back better.