Bath MP champions city’s local businesses in Parliament, calling the government to ease financial pressures

11 January 2024

Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and Shadow Leader of the House, praised the work of local Bath businesses during Business Questions on the 11th of January and asked the government to consider ways to increase profits for small businesses.

Mrs Hobhouse spoke of the wonderful Abbey Deli, a small business in Bath which makes delicious home-baked goods from local produce. She praised their perseverance in the face of recent challenges to the hospitality industry.

As more than 10 hospitality venues close every day in the UK, the Bath MP drew the government’s attention to the urgent need to address the financial difficulties threatening the sector. She proposed a solution to introduce a sliding scale of VAT based on bands of turnover. The Bath MP hailed the potential of this solution to create higher profits for local businesses in Bath, as well as provide more tax revenue for the government that could be put back into the community.

Mrs Hobhouse asked the Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, for a statement from the government on what measures they would take to support hospitality businesses over the coming year. Mrs Mordaunt recognised the importance of the issue raised by the Bath MP, praising her as a “very experienced parliamentarian”, and acknowledged that VAT thresholds were a significant problem for small businesses.

Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, commented:

“Local businesses are the backbone of our community in Bath. With every day, more hospitality venues across the country are having to close their doors. We cannot waste any more time in finding a solution to the financial pressures threatening small businesses.

“The government has ignored sound solutions for supporting businesses despite them staring ministers in the face. Bath businesses have no choice but to operate within an unfair system. We need mechanisms in place that work in practice, not just theory.”

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