Oral Answers to Questions

Justin Madders Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

20. What steps he is taking to help reduce employment costs for employers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The Employment Rights Bill is the next phase of delivering our plan to make work pay. The Bill is both pro-worker and pro-business, and will see significant benefits for employers. For example, increased worker wellbeing could be worth billions of pounds a year. The Bill will also reduce workplace conflict, which, according to a report published by ACAS in 2021, costs employers around £30 billion a year. The Bill will level the playing field so that those employers who are engaged in good business practice are not forced into a race to the bottom.

[Harriet Cross]

Yesterday, Scotbeef announced the closure of its abattoir in Inverurie in my Gordon and Buchan constituency, with 90 job losses and another blow to agriculture in north-east Scotland. It blamed rising costs. In April the increase to national insurance contributions came in—a huge tax rise on businesses—and the Office for Budget Responsibility has shown that 109,000 jobs were lost in May, which was the highest monthly figure in five years. It cannot be a coincidence that that happened the month after the NICs increase. How is the Minister’s Department supporting businesses and jobs in sectors such as agriculture, which are having to deal with huge cost increases because of his Government’s decisions?

[Justin Madders]

I am very sorry to hear the news from the hon. Lady’s constituency. It is the case that 667,000 more people are in work compared with this time last year, and 300,000 fewer people are economically inactive. I am rather surprised that she mentions the national insurance hike, because the Leader of the Opposition was on the radio this morning and was repeatedly asked to confirm whether that hike would be reversed. She failed to do so, and it seems to me that the Opposition are in opposition to themselves.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

The Minister seems to be in denial. As a former entrepreneur, I visit lots of businesses in my constituency, and I talk to them about their fears. Not a single one has anything positive to say about the Employment Rights Bill—indeed, they are concerned that it will reduce employment, not increase it, and it has been estimated that it will increase costs by more than £5 billion. The Minister has been asked this before, so he has had a lot of time to think about it: can he name a single business that publicly supports the Employment Rights Bill?

[Justin Madders]

I can certainly name a number. I also refer the hon. Member to Hansard on Tuesday 11 March, column 953, where I named a small business. A number of other businesses have been in support: Centrica, Co-op, Richer Sounds, Nationwide, Adept, One+All, Pedal Me, Inkwell—there are many businesses that we talk to on a regular basis and that understand that treating staff well is a good thing for those businesses. It is a pro-growth, pro-worker measure.

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

On 12 June 1996, a Conservative Minister stood at the Government Dispatch Box and said:

“Labour’s minimum wage would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs”.—[Official Report, 12 June 1996; Vol. 279, c. 248.]

They were wrong then and they are wrong now. With particular focus on the Teesside region, what steps are the Government taking to bring more well-paid jobs to people to make sure they can spend more in our local economy?

[Justin Madders]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there are so many echoes of the minimum wage debate, it is uncanny. As time has shown, the minimum wage has raised living standards in this country and it is something we are very proud to have implemented. We are looking to bring more investment across the economy. Recent surveys have shown that business confidence is increasing as a result of decisions made by this Labour Government.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)]

As my hon. Friend the Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) made clear earlier, the ONS statistics are very clear: 109,000 fewer on payroll in May alone and 276,000 fewer since the autumn Budget. As UKHospitality points out, the NICs changes were

“felt most intensely by foundational sectors like hospitality,”

which “necessitates an urgent review”.

My question to the Minister is simple: where will his red line sit? How many more jobs have to come off payroll before the Department for Business and Trade will stand up to the Treasury on this? Another 100,000? A million? Where is the line?

[Justin Madders]

Again, it is interesting that those on the Conservative Front Bench do not seem to be in agreement with their own leader any more about the national insurance hikes. I will just point out some statistics to the hon. Member: the International Monetary Fund has predicted that growth will increase this year and the Lloyds business barometer found that business confidence was up. We are putting money back into people’s pockets and investing in this country. We are doing things that the Conservatives failed to do for 14 years and that is why they are out of power.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to encourage small businesses to export.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)]

T6. I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. A local manufacturer and a number of residents in my constituency have raised concerns that products, such as cosmetics or first aid kits, sold on e-commerce sites like Temu not only undercut local producers but may fail to meet high UK quality and safety standards. What is the Department doing to ensure that products sold by online retailers continue to meet high-quality UK trading standards?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question; she is absolutely right to raise it. UK product safety law is clear: all products must be safe before they are placed on the market. As she sets out, goods sold via online marketplaces are becoming a significant problem. That is why we introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which will allow the introduction of clear obligations for e-commerce businesses, in order to ensure consumer safety and a level playing field. We intend to consult on product safety requirements for online marketplaces very shortly after Royal Assent.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

T7. Will the Secretary of State accept an invitation to engage with the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister and trade unions on the Spirit negotiations, a joint venture to safeguard Northern Ireland jobs at Short Brothers, which will impact my constituents in Strangford?

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

Our farmers and growers can survive only if there is a functioning supply chain, but since the creation of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, they complain bitterly about continuing poor practice and the risk of de-listing. Does the Minister not agree that it is time to beef up this organisation, and to amalgamate it with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator?

[Justin Madders]

We had a Westminster Hall debate last week in which a number of these issues were raised. The hon. Gentleman will know that we are undertaking our fourth review of the GCA. I encourage him and other hon. Members to contribute to it. We are considering the points made in that debate, and we will welcome any comments in the review.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Select Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

Yesterday, the Dad Shift campaign organised hundreds of dads to come to Parliament to campaign for better paternity leave. Does the Secretary of State agree that better paternity leave can give dads more security to spend more time with their babies, support the development of children and help gender balance in the workplace? Will he tell the House whether the issue will be covered in the upcoming parental leave review?

[Justin Madders]

I am sorry that I was not able to meet the Dad Shift campaigners yesterday, although I have met them previously. I can assure them and the House that the Government are committed to ensuring that parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and home lives, and we recognise that parental leave and pay entitlements play a key role in that. We know that the leave system needs improving, which is why we are committed to conducting a review, which will look at paternity leave and pay and the length of leave available to fathers and partners. More detail on the review will be set out before the summer recess.

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

The chief executive of UKHospitality estimates that there will be an extra £1 billion of costs on employers for new workers—774,000 of them—coming in to the national insurance contributions regime, on top of £2.4 billion in other costs. If, by the next Budget, it turns out that the previous Budget is crushing the hospitality sector, will the Government consider tax reliefs in order to power our hospitality industry?