Steve Darling

Steve Darling

Liberal Democrat — Torbay

Speaking in the House of Commons on 13 January 2026

Debate

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Contribution

I do not know those venues, but I suspect some of them may well be on the high street. We, as Liberal Democrats, know that our constituents see our high streets as the beating heart of our communities. By backing our hospitality industry, we are backing our high streets. Anthony from Otto in Torquay shared with me how independents are powered by families; they put people first. The reality is that an independent is not going to get a regional chippy in to do some work for him. He is going to take on the chippy who he plays football with on a Sunday morning. He has some skin in the game; he might know that chippy’s kids, because they go to the local sixth form with his kids. As independents, they have a level of skin in the game. That is why we need to ensure that we set up an economy that supports independents. What I found extremely scary when talking with a number of these people this weekend was that they were saying, “Why are we doing this? We could be managers of a local supermarket and sleep at night.” I hope the Minister will listen to these pleas and ensure that the Government do this cumulative impact assessment.

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