Finance (No. 2) Bill

Carla Lockhart Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Robbie Moore]

The hon. Member makes an excellent point. Despite the minimal, partial Government U-turn by increasing that threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million, the changes are still impacting many of our farming businesses and therefore the wider supply chain. This not only has a negative impact on the level of investment that a family is willing to put into their family business, but has a hugely detrimental impact on the wider supply chain, including on investment in agricultural machinery and the willingness to purchase stock. This is therefore having a massive detrimental impact on the real rural economy right now.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

The hon. Member is speaking very powerfully. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland has estimated that 4,500 farms, mainly in the dairy industry, will still be impacted by the set changes. Does he agree that, given the need for food security, we need to protect our farms, not do away with them?

--- Later in debate ---

[Carla Lockhart]

Many small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency are looking to expand, invest and grow beyond being an SME, but the Bill does not afford them that opportunity. You would forgive businesses in Northern Ireland for feeling deeply disadvantaged. That, on top of the practical daily problems they face as a result of the Windsor framework, is putting them at a disadvantage.

[Jim Allister]

There is absolutely no doubt about that, and the Government are putting it up in lights. They are saying to new businesses coming into the United Kingdom or starting in the United Kingdom, “If you place yourself in GB, you will have an uplift available to you in terms of the aid we can give and the venture capital you can draw in, but if you stay in Northern Ireland then you will be at the bottom of the pile, treated unequally.”