Steff Aquarone

I agree entirely—if only there was a buses Bill before the House. We are also going to get the Transport Committee’s report on buses connecting rural communities, and I would be interested in his thoughts on that in due course. Meanwhile, rural residents see the Chancellor and the Business Secretary courting the banks and hedge funds, or flying overseas to seek investment. They know that that is important, but they would like to see similar care and engagement for the businesses that matter to them. The Chancellor is keen to get the ear of BlackRock’s Larry Fink, but what about the insights of Larry’s Pizzeria in Hoveton? Meg and Jamie, the hard-working owners, recently showed me how perilous the situation is for rural businesses like theirs. They have excellent reviews, a busy restaurant and a prime broads location, but the cash still just does not add up. The ever-growing cost of supplies, the broken business rates system and high energy costs mean that it has rarely been tougher for a rural business like theirs. Business owners, employees, trainees and jobseekers have all shared their insights about how these rural economic challenges are impacting them. Chief among them is attracting, training and retaining the workforce. Although we in North Norfolk are proud to have the oldest population in the country, we are blessed with many eager and talented young people who are keen to cut their teeth in a range of sectors. However, the sad reality is that young people in rural areas are missing out on opportunities and seeing their career paths limited by the difficulty of accessing training, apprenticeships and early career development, which are simply too far away and take too long to reach to be feasible. A large part of that is down to our public transport struggles. During the debate on the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill, I spoke about a young woman from my constituency who is eager to get an apprenticeship working in childcare, but buses will not get her to the right part of Norwich in time for the 8 am start.