Without our small businesses, we as a country are nothing, which is why we have published the first small business strategy in 10 years. We are going to change the law to tackle late payment, unlock billions to support businesses to invest, and revitalise the British high street.
Love Beer Brewery in Milton in my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage supplies fantastic ale for events and a number of local pubs. However, its viability is threatened by the freeze of income tax thresholds and the increase in beer duty. Its monthly beer duty costs are now between £1,500 and £2,000, and if its owner did not have a day job, it probably would not be able to survive. In that context, will the Minister say a bit more about what else the Government can do to support small businesses and small breweries such as Love Beer in Milton?
When I visited those at the de-alcoholisation unit at another brewery, the Budweiser factory just outside Newport, last week, they said that one of the really important things was being able to diversify, because of changing drinking habits in the UK. However, they also want the British Government to focus on making sure that businesses have access to capital and that people pay their bills on time. When we introduce legislation, as we intend to do later this year, which will tackle the problem of late payments, that will make a dramatic difference. It will be the most important piece of legislation in the UK in this field for 25 years.
Clean Power Hydrogen, a small business in my constituency, is a UK leader in the manufacturing of membrane-free electrolysers for green hydrogen production. It employs about 60 people in Doncaster, and it has the ability to expand that to hundreds by 2035. Will the Minister set out what he and his Department are doing to support companies such as Clean Power Hydrogen in Doncaster and across the country?
I congratulate my hon. Friend on being a great defender of the businesses in her constituency. We are delivering targeted catalytic public investment in our clean energy industries. Some people see climate change as an economic challenge for us, but we see it as an economic opportunity in this country, because it is about future jobs. That is why we are so different from the political parties on the other side of the Chamber.
Slough is a dynamic and innovative business hub, but as we enter the festive period, retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, for example, are under immense pressure. Although businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, welcome the support measures that have already been introduced, what specific immediate actions are the Government taking to boost the high street and ensure that Slough businesses not only survive but thrive?
As my hon. Friend knows, I know a bit about Slough, because my brother is a headteacher there—and I am sure he has been helping out some of the pubs. The most important point is that we fully acknowledge that it has been a very difficult few years for the hospitality industry across the whole of the UK. That is one of the reasons we set a target of 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030. If we are to do that, we have to make sure that pubs survive. My hon. Friend will know that, when the Conservatives left office last year, they had no plan to replace the covid recovery funds and no plan to meet the coming cliff edge in the revaluation of business rates. That is why it is so important that we have put in £4.3 billion to protect businesses and provide transitional relief.
Will the Minister outline what work he is doing with the Ministry of Defence to support our defence SMEs, given the situation in Ukraine at the moment?
The single most important thing is that we have a defence industrial strategy. We should always have had a defence industrial strategy, because as many of us will know, up and down the land there are small and larger businesses that rely on the support they get from providing for the MOD. When I was in Auckland a few days ago, I was able to speak to the New Zealand navy about buying British frigates, which would be made in Rosyth. I very much hope that we will be able to get that over the line. We are determined as a Government to use these industrial opportunities in the MOD to deliver good jobs across the whole of the UK.
Last month in Business and Trade questions, I asked the Secretary of State to show some backbone and stand up to the Chancellor and say, “No more business taxes”. But he did not: far from permanently lower business rates, small and medium-sized businesses on our high streets are experiencing enormous rate hikes. Will the Minister apologise to those retail and hospitality businesses who feel so misled?
No, because I want the hon. Lady to apologise for what the Conservatives did to the British economy and British businesses. Why is it that, following the Brexit that they delivered to this country, only one in 10 British businesses are exporting, whereas three out of 10 French businesses and four out of 10 German businesses export? It is because they gave us a Brexit which, frankly, was not fit for purpose. That is precisely what we should be changing.
Of course there are problems for lots of businesses up and down the country, but I note that every single time we ask the Conservatives, “Where is the money to come from to pay for improving the NHS and putting our public services back on their feet?” they always say it will come from some random budget. [Interruption.] Just as when the shadow Business Secretary, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) was the Financial Secretary to the Treasury for Liz Truss, he wanted us to—
I did not hear an answer to my question. To add insult to injury to the retail and hospitality businesses on our high streets, the letter that has gone out from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about the change in business rates gives completely different information from the guidance on the Treasury website. The difference means thousands and thousands of pounds. Will the Minister commit today to getting in touch with his Cabinet colleague to ensure that those letters are corrected?