Supporting High Streets

Joe Robertson Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Aphra Brandreth]

My right hon. Friend makes an important point, and it is one that businesses have raised with me directly. They all want to do the right thing, but they need the flexibility to be able to employ in different circumstances.

Just last week I met Richard, who runs several independent pubs across Cheshire, including the Boars Head near Wybunbury. Like many landlords, his biggest worry is not just his own business, but his staff. Because of higher costs and new employment burdens, he has been forced to make difficult choices. He is concerned that he will not be able to offer part-time jobs this Christmas to give young people some extra cash—and, more importantly, some experience—and help him meet the demands of the festive season.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is speaking eloquently about pubs. Does she agree that one of the best ways to support pubs is to give them a fair excise regime, and that that falls on the Government?

[Aphra Brandreth]

Absolutely; my hon. Friend makes an important point. Supporting pubs is vital, because they really are at the heart of many of our high streets. Since last year’s Budget, tens of thousands of jobs have disappeared across hospitality and retail. That is Labour’s record, and it shows exactly why we need a Government who understand business, back enterprise and believe in delivering growth.

Another vital high-street service is the post office. As there is no bank in my constituency, post offices are indispensable, but many struggle to keep their doors open. When the branch in Kelsall shut, I launched a petition to save it; I am grateful for the support of nearly 350 residents who added their names to the petition. I have since met representatives of the post office, which is actively seeking a new location, but as our high streets shrink, and as local businesses face mounting pressures as a result of the damaging policies of this Labour Government, finding suitable premises is increasingly difficult.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin), whose passion I always admire, even if I rarely follow or agree with her arguments.

From the day you start your business until the day you pass it on, Labour simply sees a target to tax. Labour Members have shown that today. By contrast, Conservatives see a dream to back. Labour makes it harder to start a business, takes more from you as you grow, and leaves a tax bill for your children when you are gone. We on this side of the House back entrepreneurs. We give them the freedom to build, the tools to invest, and the chance to pass their success to the next generation. That is what our plan will deliver to get Britain working again.

Starting a business is a leap of faith, taken by someone with an idea and the determination to make it work. Conservatives understand that, because many of us have started and run our own businesses. Sadly, just one Cabinet Minister can say the same. I do not think that Labour Members detest enterprise and business; they just do not understand it, and see it as something that they must relentlessly tap. In 14 years under the Conservatives, the number of businesses grew by 1.1 million. We have built businesses, so we know what it takes to make them grow. This Government have not, and it shows.

I am sure that Members across the House love going into schools in their constituencies. The ones in Beverley and Holderness are brimming with budding entrepreneurs —young people full of ideas but lacking the tools to turn them into reality. Research by the Federation of Small Businesses found that, while 60% of young people want to own a business, only 16% ever will.

[Joe Robertson]

The British Retail Consortium has warned that £7 billion of costs have been put on to businesses because of national insurance contributions levied by this Government, and the Chancellor’s attitude was to say, “Well, the NHS is working.” Does she really think that the hospital budget should rest on the entrepreneurs in our constituencies?

[Graham Stuart]

We see it in speech after speech from Labour Members. Perhaps it is because of the careers they have had. They think the key to unlocking the high street, or indeed the wider economy, is public investment. It is not; it is about government getting out of the way. Of course we need a facilitating local and national government, but here are the fundamentals: it is not their money—the money of government—which businesses are allowed to have; and it is not their space, which businesses are allowed to occupy. It is our space—the people’s space—and government is there to facilitate and support, humbly. But humility is something that the Labour party never seems to display when it comes to dealing with business. All it ever does is seek to tax it.