Budget Resolutions

Brian Mathew Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Brian Mathew (Melksham and Devizes) (LD)]

While increased investment in the NHS and the lifting of the two-child benefit cap are welcome, for the second year in a row, the Government have largely failed to deliver on their promise to tackle the cost of living crisis and grow the economy.

In neglecting to fix our relationship with Europe, they are overlooking the easiest solution to turbocharge our economy and repair the mess left by Brexit. A closer, more pragmatic partnership with our closest neighbours through a customs union would mean faster growth, improved competitiveness and a reduction in the red tape that is holding back small and medium-sized businesses, like those in my constituency of Melksham and Devizes. Last week, the owner of a transport company in Broughton Gifford told me that he had been up until the small hours doing the paperwork needed for his company to export to Europe. These businesses want to expand, export and hire new staff, but they are being held back by a Government that do not seem to understand, or want to understand, business.

Our hospitality sector tells the same story. In the towns and villages in my constituency, hospitality is not just an industry but an essential part of the social fabric. I have visited a number of the outstanding pubs in my constituency, including the British Lion in Devizes and the Lamb in Urchfont, and spoken to the landlords, staff and customers. They are being squeezed by high energy costs, pressures from supply chains, staffing shortages and rising prices. Wadworth, a family-run independent brewer and pub company based in Devizes that produces the much-loved 6X beer, is facing increased charges of thousands of pounds at its tenanted pubs. Despite the reduced multiplier, those pubs face an increase of 76% in their business rates, and will pay an extra £12,900 on average over the next three years, with some paying much more. That will likely lead to pub closures and job losses. I remind the Chancellor that a closed pub pays no taxes, so those measures are not only a nail in the coffin of one of our most valued assets, namely the Great British pub, but a major shot in the foot for the Chancellor and her Government.

The Liberal Democrat policy to cut 5p on VAT for the hospitality sector would help those businesses not only to survive but to ensure that people can afford the little things that brighten up life, such as a pint after work, fish and chips on a Friday or a family meal, which should not break the bank.

This low-growth, high-tax Budget is punishing people, hitting them with stealth taxes on their wages and failing to tackle the actual problems that our residents and businesses face. It fails to reverse the unpopular and self-defeating farm inheritance tax or at least to raise the threshold so that it protects working family farms. The Lib Dems wanted this Budget to be forward-thinking, going for growth with a deal for Europe, saving our high streets, and helping families with the cost of living. Instead, sadly, it was a missed opportunity and squandered the chance to deliver the change that is needed.