Jim Shannon

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers) on setting the scene. I wish to give, as I always do, a Northern Ireland perspective to this debate. I know the Minister is eager to hear it, and I am pleased to provide it. There are so many issues facing our local high streets; I will name just a few. There are the empty units that ultimately reduce footfall as well as consumer choice. There has been a dramatic increase in online shopping—in a couple of clicks, customers can now order nearly anything they want online. Local businesses are struggling with the high cost of energy, rent and business rates. The price of electricity and gas has to be sustainable for businesses for the future. I want to mention two towns. Ballynahinch is a fantastic place to nip down to and do some shopping. Newtownards is the main town of the borough, where you can get everything you want in terms of home comforts and food. It has been a market town since the 1600s and I am pleased that, even today, we have the market every Saturday in Newtownards town. It brings in people from all over the Province and creates, by its very nature, a buzz around the area on the weekends. I love to see the many independent retailers on the high streets, as they are the backbone of the economy. In Newtownards we have hairdressers, salons, fashion shops and family-run coffee shops. We have a coffee culture in Newtownards now as well. The charity shops cannot be dismissed, by the way, because there are always good products for sale. My mother was one of those people who was always keen to buy something for a pound—definitely an Ulster Scot, that’s for sure. We must continue to invest in public spaces to fill the gaps and engage further with local councils to see what more can be done to revamp business rates so that local shops can afford to stay open.