Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Debate
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Monica Harding
Main Page: Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat - Esher and Walton)Department Debates - View all Monica Harding's debates with the HM Treasury
Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
Monica Harding Excerpts(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. We are going to run this session for an hour from the start, so it will end at 4.40 pm. If the Minister can help Members to get in, that will be really useful.
Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)
Perhaps the Prime Minister, on his much-heralded cost of living tour, might like to visit the pubs and cafés in my constituency of Esher and Walton, if they let him in. They are being squeezed to breaking point by this Government, while constituents watch their wallets because of tax rises. Hospitality venues are the lifeblood of my high street and create the jobs we need for young people. Will the Government act now by fully using business rates relief and introducing an emergency VAT cut for hospitality to protect jobs, pubs, restaurants and the lifeblood of my constituency?
Dan Tomlinson
One of the things that the Government are doing to support businesses up and down the country is bringing back economic stability. Under this Government, interest rates have been cut six times, which will reduce borrowing costs for businesses small and large, and we are doing all we can to boost living standards, so that people have more money in their pockets to spend in hospitality businesses. We have seen faster increases in wages in the first year of this Government than we did in the first 10 years under the Conservatives.