Labour frontbencher unveils measures to help small businesses – but can’t say how much they’ll cost
The next guest on tonight’s edition of Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is Labour’s shadow environment secretary Steve Reed.
He says the party wants to address the struggles facing small businesses, and says: “We’re going to pass legislation to get businesses paid quicker to keep them going.
“Second, business rates have long been the bane of small businesses, particularly since the rise of online giants who don’t have to bear the same costs. So we’re going to scrap business rates to save businesses.”
Asked how much scrapping business rates will cost, he says it will be replaced with “an alternative that levels the playing field between the bricks and mortar shops on our high streets, businesses in our high streets and the online giants”.
However, he cannot provide any specifics on how much the change will cost, but repeats that it’s “simply not fair that you’ve got online giants that pay next to nothing, but your local hairdresser pays a lot more money”.
The other area that Labour will target to make a difference to small businesses, Mr Reed says, is through the party’s plans to create GB Energy, which will invest in clean energy and reduce energy costs.
It is then put to Mr Reed that Nottingham City Council has effectively gone bankrupt due to a £38m debt owed by Robin Hood Energy – an example of the public sector getting involved in energy that didn’t go so well.
He says he doesn’t know the details of that, but makes the case for sustainable energy such as nuclear: “We simply haven’t invested in that.
“I think the government hasn’t given any licences for wind farms since around 2016 on land wind farms.
“If we harness the opportunity of this clean energy, if we generate it here at home, we’re not subject to the vagaries of foreign dictators like Vladimir Putin cutting energy supplies and forcing up our costs.
“We take back control of it, if you like, here in the UK, clean energy.”