Supporting High Streets

Debate between Sarah Olney and Monica Harding

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Olney]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Businesses all across the country, including in my own constituency of Richmond Park, have reported similar massive increases in their business rates bills, and the Government urgently need to get to grips with that.

[Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)]

I would like to raise the plight of hairdressers. Angels in Thames Ditton in my constituency told me that this Government are hitting small businesses with higher employer costs, rising business rates and wage hikes that are already squeezing very thin margins. They are facing not just one increase, but a combination of high utility supply costs, wage rises, NI hikes and business rates that are all adding up, and they are really struggling to survive.

[Sarah Olney]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is not just one thing or two things, but a whole range of different costs are being loaded on to businesses one after the other, all at the same time and during a time when the economy is very sluggish and growth is extremely difficult.

Hospitality Sector

Debate between Sarah Olney and Monica Harding

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Olney]

My hon. Friend gives a striking example of exactly what I was saying about the pressures faced by the hospitality sector. He is absolutely right that the Chancellor needs to hear these calls from the hospitality sector as she puts together her Budget, which we now expect at the end of November.

Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy. They are at the centre of our local communities, and they create the jobs we all rely on. We are glad that raising the employment allowance will shield the very smallest employers, but thousands of local businesses, including many in the hospitality sector, will still feel the damaging impact of the national insurance increase. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have voted against the Government’s misguided jobs tax at every opportunity, and I once again urge them to scrap these measures, but I also press the Minister to at least spare our treasured pubs, restaurants, café and hotels by exempting the hospitality sector from this tax rise. Whether they were aware of it or not, the Government’s decision to raise the rate of national insurance contributions while reducing the salary threshold at which it is levied has significantly increased the cost of employing part-time workers, delivering a disproportionately large blow to the hospitality sector.

[Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)]

The Minister has talked about social mobility. Does my hon. Friend agree that when a company cuts hours, it is those who work part time—some of the most disadvantaged members of society—who lose out, and lose their jobs?

[Sarah Olney]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. That is why this jobs tax has been so damaging, not just to the hospitality sector but to the many people who rely on the sector for flexible work that can fit in with their caring demands or other issues that they are experiencing.