Adam Dance

I agree; it is a big reduction. Fortunately, in Crewkerne in my constituency, our banking hub will be open five days a week, but I agree that they need to be reassessed. Beyond banks, many businesses on the high street in my constituency have had to close, such as Kazbar in Yeovil. The broken business rates system has been a significant driver of many of those closures. If we want to support businesses on rural high streets, we need a commercial landowner levy, which would tax only the land value of commercial sites. Pharmacies also provide vital services to our high street. The 20 pharmacies in my constituency are at the heart of local healthcare but are under severe pressure. Across the country, an estimated 1,200 pharmacies have had to close over the last seven years. I hope that the Government reassure us today that, in their discussions on the 2025-26 funding contract, they will focus on reaching an agreement that exempts our pharmacies from the rise in employer national insurance contributions. Finally, we must not forget the vital cultural services that our high streets can provide. I had the honour of opening Yeovil’s new amphitheatre at the Triangle, which creates a new public open space and focal point for events. We need more projects like that, but between 2010 and 2024 annual spending on culture and leisure services saw a real-terms fall of £2.3 billion. It is vital that local authorities receive more funding from the Government to support the arts and culture so that we can provide excellent culture projects to regenerate our high street. In conclusion, the tide of closures on our high streets must be reversed. Our constituents deserve high streets that they can be proud of, and which provide services we need, not boarded-up shops.