We’ve now had several months of positive economic news, showing that Britain’s recovery is being driven by business and trade. Locally, we seen unemployment falling faster than the national trend, supported by the Government’s £40million regional growth fund for East Kent, the high speed rail link and the expanded apprenticeships programmes. Nationally there are more people in work today and more businesses trading than ever before. Locally I want us to be doing everything we can to support businesses that are creating new jobs, and also to help people who are looking to start a new business.
The Autumn Statement, delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer last week contained more good news for businesses, with a series of measures announced on business rates. I know that business rates are one of the big fixed costs that firms face, and I believe that the time has come for a broader review of how they are set.
Over 4,000 businesses in the Shepway area are set to benefit from the announcements made by George Osborne. These include the capping of all business rate increase at 2% for the next two years; meaning they will be below the rate of inflation. In addition to this there will be a £1,000 discount for both of the next two years on the business rates for all retail premises with a rateable value of up to £50,000; this includes shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. The Small Business Rate Relief scheme is being also being extended to April 2015.
We all want to see empty shops in the high street and in the heart of smaller communities come back to life, so I was particularly pleased that the Chancellor has announced a new ‘reoccupation relief’, which will halve the rates bills of businesses taking over premises empty for over a year. This will give a real incentive for a new business to come into the high street.
The cost of road fuel can be a big expense for businesses, just as it is for motorists, so I support the decision to continue to freeze road fuel duty until at least 2015. This means that fuel duty will be 20p per litre lower by that time, than it would have been if we had continued with the increases planned before 2010. On average this will save the typical motorist £11 every time they fill up their tank.
Last Friday I attended meetings with employees of Eurotunnel at their offices at the Cheriton terminal. Eurotunnel is not only one of the largest employers in our area; it is responsible for the infrastructure which is vital to the economic regeneration of East Kent. The Channel Tunnel is not only a gateway to Europe, but it has allowed for the development of high speed rail and investment in the motorway network in Kent. We need both the tunnel and the ports to be doing well, as we know that when there are delays because of strikes of bad weather, just one of these operating on its own cannot cope with the demand of traffic. I am pleased that progress is being made on agreeing with the authorities in Europe the pricing scheme for access to the tunnel, which is vital to Eurotunnel’s future success. I hope we will soon see more competition through the tunnel as well with other operators running services alongside those of Eurostar.