Hospitality Sector VAT: Local Economies, Employment and Growth
Tom Gordon Excerpts(1 day, 20 hours ago)
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Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Huq. Harrogate is often referred to as the jewel in the crown of North Yorkshire’s cultural offering. We have the flower show, the Great Yorkshire Show, the Harrogate International Festival, which is celebrating its 60th year, the conference centre and much more. We have the likes of the Great Knaresborough Bed Race in the town next door, which also has its iconic castle and viaduct. That means that we have a slew of fantastic hotels, pubs and cafés that support the important visitor economy in our area.
After the Budget a few weeks back, I held my second post-Budget business breakfast with the Harrogate District chamber of commerce. The thing that really came through was that they felt that the Budget was a missed opportunity to support the lifeblood of our local economy. They called for a VAT cut, which would help to reinvigorate our high streets, get young people into work and support the local economy, and were left disappointed with the Budget’s lacking ambition.
UKHospitality has a well-publicised campaign, “VAT’s the Problem”, to cut VAT to 10%. I suggest to the Minister that, if a cut to 10% would be too much, he could pick up Lib Dem plans to cut VAT to 15%. If we do not do something, we will see more businesses shut up shop and a further decline in our high streets. All that comes at the same time that the Government are looking to introduce a visitor levy, which would add to and compound those same problems. Will the Minister meet with Members who have made that point today and look again at a cut to the VAT?
Economic Growth
Tom Gordon Excerpts(2 months ago)
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Emma Reynolds
I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman that when I was Environment Secretary I visited the port of Belfast and saw the kinds of checks that were going on there. The sanitary and phytosanitary agreement that we are negotiating with the EU will help to reduce that friction.
Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)
The Chief Secretary talks about £150 million for investment in the north. How much of that funding is actual new capital expenditure from this Government, or is it simply a repackaged, reannounced sum of money for the north?
Emma Reynolds
It is money that already sits with the British Business Bank, but the change is the focus on the north, on scale-up businesses, to ensure that we unleash their growth potential. We are not announcing new funding; we never said we were.
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
Tom Gordon Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Darren Jones
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I am always delighted to meet her, and we should meet colleagues from the Department for Transport to make sure that, where we are investing billions of pounds—whether that is public or private capital—in important infrastructure such as the lower Thames crossing, people benefit from the wider effects of that investment.
Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)
Last week something amazing happened: I actually found myself in agreement with the Labour Mayor for York and North Yorkshire, when he said that spending review
“announcements fall well short”,
and that this
“government had a real chance to show it was serious about rural…areas—but it missed it.”
Does the Chief Secretary to the Treasury agree with me that one of the best ways to invest in new infrastructure would be by dualling and electrifying the line between Leeds and York via Harrogate in order to unlock growth in our part of Yorkshire?
Darren Jones
I thank the hon. Member for his question. As he will have seen from the Chancellor’s previous statements, we are increasing investment in transport—whether rail, road or buses—specifically in the north and the midlands, so there is plenty of opportunity to bid for the project he mentions, and I am sure he will talk to Transport Ministers to make that case.