MPs meet Hartlepool businesses as fears grow over closures and costs

Bill Esterson, Labour's shadow business minister, met with Hartlepool's independent business owners alongside Jonathan Brash, Labour candidate for the town, on this week to listen to their struggles with rising costs.

The two met with dozens of local businessmen at Mrs C's Patisserie on Church Street as they voiced their concerns about burgeoning energy costs, punitive taxation, and a "lack of money in people's pockets."

They said they had told them the current economic situation has forced many local businesses to downsize or close their doors.

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Mr Esterson said: “Labour means business. We have a pro-business agenda because we understand if you don’t support businesses, you’re not supporting workers.

"In Hartlepool, like so many other towns across the country, the challenges faced by small, independent companies are severe.

“They need an MP and a Government who are on their side and that’s exactly what they’ll get from Jonathan Brash and a Labour Government.”

They said the party were committed to reforming business taxation to rebalance the relationship between the biggest online and digital firms, and the High Street.

Meanwhile, they said they believe this will end the current system which negatively affects entrepreneurs.

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Mr Brash said: “I’d like to thank Bill for coming to Hartlepool and listening to the voice of our town’s businesses first hand.

“Every day we hear more and more heartbreaking stories from people who just don’t know how they are going to keep going to keep going in the current crisis.

“Independent businesses are the lifeblood of our local economy and I really worry that we will look back in a few years time and wonder where they all went.

“We urgently need a pro-business Government and I know that’s what Bill and the Labour team will deliver.”

They said the party were committing to reforming business taxation to rebalance the relationship between the biggest online and digital firms, and the High Street.

Meanwhile, they said they believe this will end the current system which negatively affects entrepreneurs.

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A Labour spokesperson has said it plans to replace Business Rates with a new system of business taxation to shift the burden away from High Street firms.

Meanwhile, they are also aiming to enact greater economic devolution to allow towns to tailor their economic policy.

They also said they want to extend windfall tax on fuel giants making record profits, and invest £1 billion in a fund for energy intensive industries.