Seasonal Hospitality Businesses in Coastal Areas

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. People are drawn to North Norfolk’s beautiful coastal communities and they stay for our fantastic hospitality sector. The sector is the backbone of our tourist economy and creates hundreds of jobs, contributing millions to our economy. It is a crucial part of our local identity, but it is also an industry, like so many, that faces challenges. It could deliver huge growth in areas that desperately need it, but unless the Government face up to the challenges, there is an existential threat to many coastal businesses.

The elephant in the room is the soaring costs that businesses face, driven partially by international affairs, but also massively by the Government’s avoidable jobs tax. Many of the cost increases the Government have caused could be absorbed by a huge business with a sizeable bottom line, but they can push a small shop in Wells-next-the-Sea or a hotel on the Norfolk broads into a really difficult position, making it unviable to bring in more staff and grow the business.

A further staffing challenge concerns training and skills for our hospitality industry, which could provide a skilled profession to many, particularly young people. A coastal community such as North Norfolk is a hotbed of opportunity.

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

The data suggests that vacancy levels in hospitality remain very high. One element of the difficulties facing hospitality businesses is, in fact, skills shortages. Would the hon. Member agree that the anticipated youth mobility scheme for EU youths and the Government’s youth guarantee scheme, which will be supported by youth hubs such as the one coming to my constituency, will be an important part of addressing those skills shortages?

[Steff Aquarone]

The hon. and learned Gentleman makes an excellent point, and I thank him for his intervention. Those things are all great, but I gently say that in rural and coastal communities such as mine they will be useless without the public transport accessibility options that will get young people to those opportunities. So it is a “Yes, and”.

The availability of training, the funding for it and the challenges of accessing it are all blocking young people and employers from benefiting. The Government need to see the opportunity to tackle unemployment and deliver growth by backing businesses and young people.

Finally, transport challenges are a choke point for growth in our communities. I want to see better connected, more affordable public transport in our coastal communities, such as between Wells and Norwich, to make it easier for people across the county, the country and the world to come and see North Norfolk and our world-class hospitality businesses and to support our communities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Thursday 1st May 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)]

I am unfamiliar with the particular case but concerned by that description. We inherited the export licensing system, and we are reviewing it as part of our ongoing work looking at all aspects of the Government’s work. If the hon. Member writes to me, I will certainly take a personal interest in the matter and write back to him.

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

T4. Folkestone and Hythe has a long history as a thriving tourist destination, but in recent years, with Brexit and rising costs, things are getting harder for businesses in our coastal communities. What steps is the Department taking to support the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry in Kent?

[Gareth Thomas]

I know from personal experience that there are some great hospitality and tourism businesses in Kent, and we want to see them do even better in the coming months and years. That is why we are seeking to support the sector through initiatives such as business rates reform and the licensing taskforce, which has just started work. It is also why the Government will launch a national visitor economy strategy this autumn, as we seek to welcome 50 million international visitors annually by 2030—and many of them, I suspect, will visit Kent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

As I have said to Conservative Members before, of course we are very sensitive to the aggregate impact of Government policy, because, frankly, having observed the Conservative Governments of the previous 14 years, I thought they completely missed this point and at many times had different Departments doing completely opposing things.

I want to say something specific on business rates. No business rates relief was planned had the Conservative party won the election. The reduction to 40% was an increase in what was in the national accounts—again, short-term decisions for short-term, partisan, political benefit; no serious plan for the future.

The hon. Gentleman will have seen the figures from the Insolvency Service this week, which are very interesting. They show that fewer people have been made redundant over the past 12 months than in the year before, so I am afraid that the doom-mongers of the Conservative party have been proved absolutely wrong by the statistics that we have.

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to help microbusinesses comply with the general product safety regulations.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The Government are committed to supporting microbusinesses to comply with the general product safety regulation. For Northern Ireland, we have published additional guidance for businesses, and we will publish an update in the coming weeks, in the light of feedback we have received. We will continue to engage with businesses to ensure that they can trade freely across the UK. Businesses targeting the EU market may use the Government’s export support service. Since October 2024, the Department’s export academy has delivered eight free online GPSR training sessions to almost 5,000 attendees.

[Tony Vaughan]

I thank the Minister for his answer. My constituent George Stevens runs a microbusiness in Lydd making handcrafted stringed instruments; it has been running for over 30 years and he has many EU customers. He is deeply worried about Brexit-related red tape, which is holding back his EU exports. Can the Minister give him an assurance that, as a result of the proposed measures, he will now find it easier to trade with the EU?

Budget Resolutions

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

One thing that people in Folkestone and Hythe said on the doorstep during the general election was that public services, particularly the NHS, do not work any more. I am proud that the first Labour Budget in 14 years has answered those calls: billions of pounds will be invested in the UK’s public services. That will be the start of a long process of rebuilding those services, which were left flat on their face after 14 years of Tory neglect.

It was interesting that in the minutes after the Budget, Folkestone and Hythe Conservatives were tweeting at me on social media, complaining about higher taxes and higher borrowing. That sounds to me like the arsonists criticising the fire service. The Chancellor was very open about what was required to start fixing the foundations of our country, and the question that the Conservatives cannot answer is what taxes they would have increased instead. If they would have borrowed less, what public services would they have cut? The truth is that after another five years of Tory rule, we would have seen more austerity, leaving our public services to rot—more hardship and literally more pain for the working people who have borne the brunt of 14 years of austerity, covid restrictions and the rising cost of living. I am proud to be a Labour MP supporting a Labour Government who chose not to go down that road. I fully accept that this Budget involved hard choices, but they were hard choices that were ducked by the Conservative party for years and years.

In addition to the headlines from the Budget, which I warmly welcome—such as the £22 billion for the NHS and raising the national minimum wage—this Budget has given hope to the hundreds of constituents writing to me about a whole range of matters, including children with special educational needs and disabilities. In Kent, the Tory-run county council’s SEND provision is on its knees; thanks to Labour’s Budget, there will now be £1.3 billion of extra help to build an education system that can cater for every child’s needs. For people in rural areas of my constituency, such as Romney Marsh, who have no, or no proper access to, broadband, £500 million will be allocated to help improve such services.

The Budget’s increase in carer’s allowance will be welcomed by the over 2,000 carers in my constituency receiving that allowance, and the extra £600 million in grant funding to local authorities for social care is especially urgent in areas such as mine, where the population is older and more vulnerable. I also warmly welcome the £100 billion of infrastructure investment over the next five years, and will continue to make the case for investment in upgrading the rail freight infrastructure in Kent, particularly to maximise the use of the channel tunnel’s rail freight capacity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Vaughan Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Justin Madders]

I find it incredible that the Opposition quote French-style labour laws, because when they introduced the minimum services legislation, they always held up France as the example of where that works already. I wish they would make their minds up. The implication behind the question about trade union funding says rather more about their attitude to how legislation is made in this country than ours. We do things because we believe in them. If he looks carefully at what the OBR is saying, £1,400 into people’s pockets as a result of the national living wage increase is a fantastic achievement that we should all be proud of.

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

7. What steps he is taking to help support small businesses to scale up.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

10. What steps he is taking to help support small businesses to scale-up.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)]

Our plan for small businesses will help them to scale up and increase productivity and growth. We are doing that by creating opportunities for businesses to compete and access the finance they need to scale, export and break into new markets. Furthermore, at yesterday’s Budget, we announced a small business Command Paper next year, which will set out more detail on how we will support small businesses.

[Tony Vaughan]

I welcome the Minister’s answer. One way that we can support small businesses to scale up is through infrastructure investment, so that businesses can get their goods to market more quickly. Will the Department support my campaign to shift more freight from trucks to trains, starting with the channel tunnel in my constituency, where only 10% of its freight capacity is being used at present?

[Gareth Thomas]

Let me take the opportunity to congratulate my hon. Friend on his election to this House. I remember well, as I am sure he does, the problems that the people and businesses of Kent had to endure when the M20 became a lorry park, thanks to a combination of poor planning by the last Government and the poor-quality trade deal they negotiated with Brussels. We certainly support the expansion of rail freight, not least as it helps to build the resilience of supply chains. I would be happy to meet him or facilitate a meeting for him with Transport Ministers, to hear more about his campaign.