SMEs are the beating heart of our high streets and communities

by Seema Malhotra MP Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston and Minister for Migration and Citizenship

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) shape our communities, boost our economy, and provide work for most people in the country. Every community has its own blend of local businesses. It is in the small business community we find the investors, innovators, entrepreneurs who are the backbone of our economy.

In July, Labour won a landslide election. I was proud to be appointed the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, and to be asked to bring insights from my work as Shadow Business Minister and Shadow Skills Minister to look at how we work to grow our skills base and our economy, reducing dependence over time on migration as the answer to our national skills shortages.

In October last year, two-thirds of SMEs reported that they had a high demand for skills they couldn’t access. We are creating Skills England to bring businesses together with colleges to shape the future skilled workforce and working local communities to better respond to local needs.

Supporting growth and doing so sustainably is a driving mission of the new Labour Government. This needs Government and the private sector working together in partnership, to bring renewal to all our communities across the country. That’s why I am proud of the work that West London Chambers is doing, in accelerating access to opportunity for local businesses and being a strong voice.

Our SMEs are the beating heart of our high streets and communities. I grew up above our family shop in Osterley and remember as a child learning how to serve customers. Having a small local business is often the main source of family income, but it’s also part of how we build our community and social ties, and through trade, strengthen our links with the rest of the world.

The Labour Budget’s focus on growth was not incidental. It was about fixing the foundations, putting our national finances back on a more secure footing, dealing with a £22bn black hole in in year spending, and building a plan for long term investment alongside stability. Core to this has been a plan for business, with our national businesses to include payment reporting in their annual reports. We are also legislating for new powers to tackle retail crime.

Finally, the Government’s business rates reforms will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000, along other reforms which will support our small businesses and high streets. We have also committed to cap Corporation Tax at 25% - the lowest in the G7 – for the duration of this Parliament.

SMEs have really suffered in recent years with the pandemic, disruption to supply chains and the impact of the Truss mini budget which wrought chaos, with soaring bills and financial instability. It’s time to turn the page, and to work together to bring opportunity and renewal that our small