Tomorrow it is Small Business Saturday. This campaign is an opportunity to shop local and back the small firms in retail and beyond that are the backbone of our local and national economies. However, this weekend and going forward they need your support even more to help deal with the higher costs they are facing.
I’ve spoken to many businesses across North West Norfolk who are very worried about the cumulative impact of measures announced in the Budget. From the £25 billion Jobs Tax, through to a near doubling of business rates for shops, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues. Finding an extra £40,000, for example as one business told me they’d have to from April, is extremely challenging given the pressures already on their finances.
That’s why this week along with other Conservative MPs I voted against the increases in National Insurance which break Labour’s manifesto commitment and will lead to lower growth, lower wages, and fewer jobs. And it is not just businesses being hit - halving the starting rate at which NI is due will particularly harm the prospects for part time and younger workers. Hospices, care homes, nurseries, charities, and others are still in the dark as to whether they will get any relief from these higher costs.
Tourism, leisure, and hospitality businesses generate over £500 million in West Norfolk. In the House of Commons, I asked the Tourism Minister why the government was putting higher costs onto those firms and making it harder for them to operate and grow. The sector nationally has warned of a £3.4 billion hike in costs which it is not realistic to think they can simply absorb. Although the minister spoke about wanting to increase visitor numbers, disappointingly I didn’t get any recognition from him of the challenges these firms are facing.
That response is sadly repeated with the changes announced to farming. In a debate this week I voted to stop the family farm tax. It is perfectly possible to come up with more targeted proposals to prevent this relief being used inappropriately as the government says is its intention – by requiring assets to be held for an extended period or having a threshold that focuses on larger asset holdings for example.
My concern is for the farms that we rely on for food and looking after the countryside – and the knock on impacts on local businesses that supply them. Other Norfolk MPs happy to say they are “Backing British Farming” will have to account for why they didn’t stand with farmers and rural communities when it came to a vote.
As I pointed out when I closed the Finance Bill debate for the Opposition last week, it is a month since the Chancellor said: “We have now set the envelope for spending for this Parliament, and we are not going to be coming back with more tax increases.” It is worrying that the Prime Minister then declined to repeat that pledge last week. You don’t grow the economy by taxing the people who are creating the wealth we need to fund our public services.
Supporting Small Business Saturday is one way we can help back our local businesses so please do shop local.
