Family Businesses

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kanishka Narayan (Vale of Glamorgan) (Lab)]

I will start by doing what the Opposition failed to do, which is to recognise the particular contribution of family businesses. I think family businesses in the Vale of Glamorgan will be disappointed that the shadow Chancellor trotted out a generic business conversation, rather than honing in on what is special about family businesses.

What is special about family businesses can be counted in the Vale of Glamorgan and across the country. Family businesses make up the majority of businesses in the Vale of Glamorgan, but their contribution cannot just be counted, it can be felt. I feel it on a weekly basis in the sandwiches of the Food for Thought deli on Barry high street, where I see the incredible effort that Nathan, Sarah, Leroy and the whole team put in. I felt it on a visit to Clive Edwards Contracts in Colwinston, where Josh Edwards is taking on what his father started. I have felt it in the coffee of the Welsh Coffee Company, best consumed on the coastline of Ogmore-by-Sea. And I have felt it very specifically in the joy delivered by the traders of Barry Island, the primary effort drivers who bring waves of tourists to our shores.

I have mentioned those contributions being felt, because they are the distinct contributions of family businesses. Many family businesses work way over time, putting a huge amount of personal and financial risk and wider collective effort into their businesses, but they make a wider contribution too. The median tenure of a FTSE chief executive officer is around five and a half years, but the tenure of family businesses is multigenerational. They are the drivers of patient capital decisions, they are the drivers often of conviction in those decisions, and they are the drivers often of both philanthropy and values in a number of business decisions, as Opposition Members have mentioned.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

The hon. Member is highlighting the value that family businesses have in the community and beyond. I have a constituent who has been investing 80%-plus of all their profits back into their business for many years, but with the changes to business property relief, they are going to have to divest equity in the business. Does he agree that that is not the right way to guarantee growth?

[Kanishka Narayan]

I thank the hon. Member for her question; let me say something that I was going to come to later. In all my experience of business, the one thing I have learned is that businesses are nothing but collections of people. They are mums and dads who drive their kids to school. They are people who drive through the potholes created by the Tory Government. They are people on our NHS waiting lists who want a decent health service. Of course it is difficult when we have to bear some of the burden of paying for our public services, but the people who run our family businesses benefit as well.

Let me hone in again on the contribution that family businesses make, which I am passionate about in the Vale of Glamorgan. Family businesses are now looking at the fact that employment allowances have been doubled. We know that 96% of them are microbusinesses employing fewer than nine people. In fact, the vast majority are sole proprietorships. They are looking at the fact that the path of corporation tax has been fixed, bringing stability back after a decade and a half of total chaos. They are looking at the fact that late payments—the fundamental challenge for small and family businesses in the Vale—have now been cracked down on. They will look at today’s motion and feel the comfort of their pints being protected, too.

The fundamental decision that family businesses make often comes down to a question of endurance—a question, in particular, of how they can sustain themselves across generations and be productive. In that context, what the Government are doing on late payments is critical. British family businesses are limited in their use of external finance. They often rely on cash flow, so to be able to deliver greater cash flow by tackling late payments is a fundamental contribution by this Government.

Family businesses are also drivers of technological innovation. Almost half the family businesses in this country are users of accountancy software, moving to digital bookkeeping far ahead of many other businesses. I am passionate about what this Government are doing in driving the adoption not just of technology but of artificial intelligence software in businesses.

Let me end where I started in my response to the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain). Family businesses are indeed just collections of people. When we make choices on taxation, we are making choices on spending in our public services. Those choices are at the heart of driving the long-term health, prosperity, stability and, indeed, effort of our family businesses.