Contributions
2,802 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Hospitality SectorI was looking in the direction of the right hon. Gentleman, so I think I will have to take his intervention first. I will then take an intervention from my hon. Friend.03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI am not going to do the Chancellor’s job, but we have no plans to introduce a tourism tax. Of course we are looking at different places in the country that have gone forward in…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorIt will not be quick—I know it will not, least of all my answer—but anyway.03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorOne of the first things I did when I became the Minister was to set an ambitious target of reaching 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030; we are at something like…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI will not give way again. That meant that mortgage rates rose faster than they have ever risen in our history, which made it almost impossible for people to survive economically.03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorWe are not taxing them out of existence, as I have tried to explain to the hon. Gentleman. He is another one of those people who is awfully nice when you meet him in the bar— […03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI passionately support what we have done about the national minimum wage. I remember when we had to sit through the night in this Chamber to ensure that the national minimum wage…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI will be very straightforward with the right hon. Gentleman: of course we recognise the problems that small businesses are having—I have heard from many—and I am about to come to…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI will make a couple of points; then of course I will give way to the Father of the House. The shadow Business Secretary condemned what he calls the reduction in retail…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorThey don’t like it up ’em, do they, Madam Deputy Speaker? The shadow Business Secretary then said, “We think they’re the right plans because those plans make our economy…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorEvery time I deal with something, another person stands up, but we have not had anybody from the SNP intervene yet.03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorWhether it is St Mary Redcliffe, Canterbury cathedral, the O2 or the Stadium of Light, we should celebrate every single part of our hospitality industry across the whole of the UK…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorYes, and I would add another point to that. In Stratford-upon-Avon, as in many other parts of the United Kingdom, the hospitality industry, the tourism industry and the creative…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorThe right hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly legitimate point. No, of course I do not want that. I want the police officers in my constituency to be policing the streets, as my…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI am more of a Chelsea bun person than an iced bun person, but my hon. Friend makes a good point: there are businesses up and down the country opening anew and afresh. Far from…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorWell, I am glad that people like me being here—that is very kind. I am not going to be kind for the rest of my speech, so the shadow Business Secretary, the hon. Member for…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI am always happy to make representations to the Chancellor on lots of different things, but I have no intention of sharing them with the House.03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI have just binned that bit of the speech, Madam Deputy Speaker. When the Government took office, the sector was already under strain. The aftermath of the pandemic and the cost…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorIf I might, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will start with an apology. As I told the shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Droitwich and Evesham…03 Sept 2025HANSARD Hospitality SectorI agree. I note that an awful lot of Conservative MPs are saying, “Oh, they’re Swedish”, as if foreign investment in the UK were a bad idea. [ Interruption. ] Yes, that is what…03 Sept 2025