Contribution
I do agree with my hon. Friend, and I wish her well in Stafford with the situation at her local council.
I urge local leaders in Lancashire to get this deal over the line. I hold my hands up and confess that I was perhaps the least enthusiastic of the Lancashire MPs when it came to the prospect of having a mayor, but I recognise that, without that, my constituents will be left behind. Therefore, we all need to work together in Lancashire to make sure we can access this funding.
The biggest issue my constituents raise with me— I was recently out doing street surgeries in Scale Hall in my constituency and was approached by several people who raised this same issue—is energy bills, so I suspect my Scale Hall constituents will be particularly pleased to see the £100 energy support payments, which should benefit over 37,000 households across Lancaster and Wyre in council tax bands A to D. On top of the extension of the 0% VAT on electricity bills until June next year and the abolition of the standing charges on gas, that will come as welcome relief to families right across my Lancashire constituency.
I regularly meet the business community, and recently met representatives from the Lancaster business improvement district, who made the case to me about the challenges facing the retail and hospitality sector. I am pleased to see the retail, hospitality and leisure business rates freeze, which is estimated to benefit 638 properties in Lancaster and 640 properties in the Wyre council area of my constituency—hundreds of businesses in my constituency will benefit.
Constituents have also raised with me the challenges on the high street. Increasing small business thresholds and removing eligibility for vape shops and adult gaming centres will go down really well with my constituents. I welcome that; it will mean that high streets, like those in Garstang and Lancaster, will thrive and be places where people want to spend time and money supporting our great local businesses.
There were also announcements in the Budget to cut fertiliser tariffs to give farming businesses more room to breathe. That will certainly go down well with my farming constituents. The rise in fuel prices is disproportionately affecting users of red diesel, so Lancaster and Wyre farmers will welcome the extension of the 3.7p cut to duty on red diesel for a further six months. That keeps the rate at its lowest level for 20 years.
My final contribution to this debate is about a missed opportunity. The economic cost of alcohol harm in England is estimated to cost us £27.4 billion annually. That includes costs to the NHS, the justice system, the wider economy and social services. The financial burden on the NHS alone stands at £4.9 billion, which is enough to pay the salaries of almost half the nurses in England.
The culprit is the very strong, very cheap alcohol that is available everywhere in this country, from supermarkets to corner shops—and increasingly from the delivery services that will deliver it to the door, day and night. This situation often makes vulnerable people drink far more than is safe and creates the ideal conditions for escalating alcohol harm. That harm that can be reduced by introducing minimum unit pricing—something that is already in place in Wales and Scotland, and has seen reductions in harm there.
Millions of people are consuming alcohol at levels that increase their risk of serious health conditions. The severity of harm rises as alcohol consumption increases, and cheap alcohol drives higher consumption. At a time when the NHS is under immense pressure and health inequalities continue to widen, there was a significant opportunity today for the Government to have taken an evidence-based approach to tackle alcohol harms. That approach makes economic sense and would rapidly improve public health and save lives.
I want to stress that minimum unit pricing does not damage pubs, restaurants or the wider hospitality sector. It is specifically designed to target the cheapest, strongest alcohol sold through supermarkets and off-licences—the products most associated with serious alcohol harm. We have to remember that alcohol-related deaths have remained high since the pandemic; they have not been coming down. I believe that we need to take radical action. Introducing minimum unit pricing would benefit the economy and save lives. The measure has support across the hospitality sector, which recognises the distinction and sees cheap off-trade alcohol as a broader market concern.
I leave the Front Bench with the concerns that I have around not addressing alcohol harms, and the benefit that minimum unit pricing could have for the economy and public health. I welcome the Budget overall. It offers breathing space for my constituents in Lancaster and Wyre.