Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Perran Moon and Gareth Thomas

Thursday 17th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Thomas]

We heard during our SME consultation that one of the biggest issues facing small and medium-sized businesses that want to scale up relates to access to finance. Indeed, since 2011, the stock of bank lending to SMEs relative to GDP has fallen by around 50%, which graphically demonstrates the significance of my hon. Friend’s point. We have been working closely with Treasury colleagues in particular, and when we launched the industrial strategy, we also launched a funding arrangement for the British Business Bank that will provide £4 billion of capital to our high-growth innovative businesses to ensure that they remain anchored in the UK and are able to scale up here.

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

10. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the industrial strategy on Cornwall.