Normally on a Monday I will be heading to Westminster to represent North West Norfolk but last week I was welcoming Kemi Badenoch to King’s Lynn. It’s not often that a Leader of the Opposition comes to our area, and I was pleased she agreed to spend time meeting residents, speak with local businesses, and hear directly about the issues facing our high streets.
Our meeting point was the new King’s Lynn Library — a fitting backdrop for the visit. The move from the old Carnegie building has already delivered a significant increase in footfall – 8500 visitors in the first week compared to 950 visiting the old library - giving nearby shops and cafés a welcome boost. Encouraging more people into the town centre has been a major focus of the Town Deal board, which secured government support covering nearly half of the project, with Norfolk County Council funding the remainder of the £17 million scheme. Investments like the library and the St George’s Guildhall project form an important part of strengthening the town’s future.
Kemi’s priority was to listen and we began by talking with long-standing local businesses, including John Day from The Fent Shop, a family-run firm with more than seven decades of history. We also heard from representatives across hospitality, travel, legal services, and other sectors. Norfolk County Council Leader Kay Mason Billig joined us too, continuing her administration’s strong advocacy for initiatives such as High Streets Matter and Supporting Local Pubs.
A concern raised repeatedly was the hike in business rates that came into effect this month, following the Chancellor’s decision to remove the relief previously available to leisure, retail and hospitality businesses. For many local firms, this means thousands of pounds in additional annual costs regardless of their turnover. Rising employment costs and regulatory pressures are adding further strain with monthly rises in unemployment showing the real world consequences.
Our proposals offer a different approach. Conservatives would abolish business rates for firms with a rateable value of up to £110,000 — a change funded through savings in welfare spending — lifting a significant financial burden from small and medium‑sized enterprises. We would also cut energy costs for businesses and consumers by ending the electricity generation carbon taxes and we would scrap Labour’s plans to increase fuel duty in September – given the chance to ditch this rise last week Labour MPs failed to vote to do so.
At a time when towns like ours are working hard to attract visitors and support tourism, the Labour government’s plans for a new tourism tax risk creating yet another hurdle for coastal, independent and high street businesses.
It’s not just the high street that is under pressure – so are farmers. We visited a local farm to talk about issues flowing from military action in Iran including higher fertiliser prices, adding new uncertainty on top of concerns about the Family Farm Tax. Despite a partial government u-turn, the inherent unfairness and impact on food security remains — which is why we would scrap the tax altogether. Farmers also raised worries about planned changes to shotgun licensing and other measures that appear to place additional burdens on rural communities.
These are undeniably challenging times for high streets. But with the right policies and a commitment to supporting enterprise our high streets can thrive. That belief is what brought Kemi to King’s Lynn — to help shape stronger high streets.
