Emma Hardy
Main Page: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)Department Debates - View all Emma Hardy's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 year, 3 months ago)
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James Cartlidge
If the hon. Lady provides me with the details, I will be more than happy to do that.
Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)
On Friday I met representatives of the Federation of Small Businesses and of small businesses in my constituency, and the message from them is that they are extremely worried about their future, about their sustainability and about energy costs. One of the points they highlighted was their concern about what will happen to their energy costs after April. Will the Minister look at matching what the Labour party is proposing, which is cutting small business rates to enable small businesses to save up to £5,000 a year, to ensure that they can continue not just for this year but going into the future?
James Cartlidge
I have also met the FSB. The one crucial point I would make is that I understand why businesses are concerned in these very challenging times—I ran a small business myself before entering Parliament—but we have to balance out the costs of these schemes to the Exchequer. We have to run sound public finances, not least because that engenders a platform of stability and confidence, which is in the interest of every single business in this country.