Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of inflation on small and medium businesses in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

DBT monitors the financial health of the SME population using a wide range of sources, including the SME Finance Monitor which stated that in 2024, 35% of SMEs rated costs as a major obstacle to running business in the next 12 months, compared with 38% in 2023. The Bank of England is responsible for controlling inflation through monetary policy tools. It has cut the interest rates four times since August 2024 as inflationary pressures eased from their recent peak, working to sustainably returning inflation to the 2% target rate.

In addition, the government is establishing trade agreements that will help reduce cost. Supermarkets have said publicly that the recently announced UK-EU SPS Agreement will help to ease the pressure on food prices.