Supporting High Streets

Elsie Blundell Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jack Rankin]

I absolutely agree. It goes beyond that, because a lot of hospitality jobs are the first jobs that people do. We talk about youth unemployment; we need to get people into the pattern of earning a living, and to enable them to gain the softer skills of serving customers and getting up on time. As we all know, that is so important to young people’s development. That is a problem not only now but for the future.

What do my landlords, hotel managers and businesses on the high street tell me their biggest problem is? Business rates. That is why I welcome my party’s commitment to permanently scrapping business rates for all retail, leisure and hospitality businesses up to a £110,000 cap.

[Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Jack Rankin]

I am afraid that I do not have time. That would lift 250,000 businesses out of business rates altogether, and it would provide essential relief to keep businesses afloat and money flowing through the local economy. The proposal is fully costed and follows our new golden economic rule.

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[Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)]

Our high streets are not just places to shop; they are the hearts of our communities. Yet every business I speak to in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton tells me the same thing: they are unsure if they can survive another year of this Labour Government. Families are under pressure too, worried about keeping their jobs, paying their mortgages and affording the food shop. They are reining in spending: fewer coffees or pints, fewer meals out and fewer days out in venues like the brilliant Harbour Park in Littlehampton.

Last Friday, I sat down with the owner of Richard Pearce Hairdressing in Aldwick. He has worked for years to train the next generation, giving young people their start in life, but the constant hammering on his overheads is relentless. He tells me that the current Government have lost all touch with local businesses and the impact of their policies. Under Labour: employer national insurance—up; cost of hiring—up; and energy bills—up.

Let us be clear about what is driving this. First, it is business rates. For shops, cafés and pubs, like the William Hardwicke in Bognor Regis and the Beresford in Middleton-on-Sea, business rates are a tax on just showing up. They punish the visible, but leave online giants untouched. The Conservatives would abolish business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure; Labour will not.

[Mrs Blundell]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Alison Griffiths]

I am going to keep making some progress.

Secondly, let me turn to energy costs. Too many small businesses are paying bills far higher than they were just a few years ago. Green levies are a political choice and the result of the Government’s ideological pursuit of net zero by 2030. While big manufacturers get relief, high streets are footing the bill.

The third factor is retail crime. There is more shoplifting and more harassment, leaving more staff feeling unsafe at work. Behind every incident—like Clarkes Estates in Bognor Regis having its windows smashed—is a real cost to the bottom line in stolen stock, lost hours and rising insurance. We have plans to crack down on retail crime with tougher penalties and real consequences.

Finally, there is the family business tax and the Employment Rights Bill that will come back before the House tomorrow. These place unfair costs and uncertainty on the very employers, like Reynolds Furniture in Bognor Regis, that hold our high streets together. They are already under pressure, and we should be helping those who create jobs, not frightening them off. Yes, of course, workers must be protected, but those protections must not undermine the small businesses that provide the jobs in the first place.

Today I join my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition in urging Ministers to abolish business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure, to cut energy bills for all small businesses, to tackle retail crime with tough consequences, and to scrap the unemployment rights Bill. Do these things and we can begin to restore confidence in high streets. Fail to do them and we will watch shutters fall, more shops disappear and more communities lose the places that make them feel like home.

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[Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)]

It is unusual that I find myself agreeing with the shadow Business Secretary, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), but it is high time that we discuss our local high streets in this place. I would gently say, however, that doing so requires us to look back at the record of the Conservatives during their time in government, and frankly, when it comes to our high streets, it is a record they should be ashamed of. Coming to the House feigning indignation and refusing to accept any responsibility for the damage they have done will really get under the skin of my constituents.

Fourteen years of hollow funding commitments, with antisocial behaviour out of control and the scars of neglect visible across our high streets, but the Conservatives instead choose to come here to talk down the Employment Rights Bill, which is a critical piece of legislation that will protect the very workers who have a stake in our high streets. If they are satisfied with workers remaining in deeply insecure employment—like those at Tetrosyl in Greater Manchester, who are facing the prospect of fire and rehire as we speak—they should just come out and say so.

The people of Heywood and Middleton North are resilient. They are grafters and they care deeply about their local community. They know that the challenges facing our high streets will not be overcome overnight, and that for us to rebuild that image of a bustling local centre—an image that invokes a sense of real pride—there must first come investment not just of capital, but of responsibility and confidence. This is where we need to meet people halfway. Too many people look at their high streets and see a landscape they no longer recognise. Where we once saw the trading of local produce, in recent years we have seen the proliferation of illicit goods that not only perpetuate antisocial behaviour on our streets, but run down public health and corrode our towns from the inside.

My constituents refuse to buy into the defeatism that Opposition parties feed off. We recognise the strengths and assets that underpin our diverse communities, and I am proud to stand alongside this Labour Government, who are finally providing the means for local people to take back their high streets. I am delighted that my borough is a beneficiary of pride in place impact funding and I thank Ministers for their engagement with me in recent weeks. I was proud to host a community meeting at Burnside community centre in Middleton, where I heard decisive calls from local people on the changes they want to see for their local amenities and their high streets. Unlike the previous Government, which deliberately moved money away from areas of most acute need, this Labour Government are working in tandem with local councils and local people to revive the assets that our towns are built on. This investment, which should be allocated to Middleton, coupled with the community right to buy and compulsory purchase powers, will allow communities to seize untapped assets and turn around shops, pubs and buildings in disrepair. We are empowering local councils to block unwanted shops, from vape shops to dodgy barbers.

This Government understand the challenge before us—the shattered trust we need to rebuild. Rather than capitulate to the declinist narratives that suit the Opposition parties all too well, we are cracking on and delivering change, and coming at this from all sides. Through tangible and lasting investment from national Government to the cutting of local red tape, and through the talent, grit and innovation of the people and businesses I represent, I know that the best days of our high streets lie ahead.