Lord Risby (Con)

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Trenchard’s excellent speech. My reported understanding is that there is effectively nobody in the Cabinet who has emerged out of the private business sector. One sector that feels this strongly is small business. For many years, I have been deputy chairman of the Small Business Bureau, and I happily declare my interest. Surveys by the British Chambers of Commerce have indicated that 44% of UK SMEs correctly expected to be negatively impacted by combined tax and wage changes. As has become obvious, the hospitality, retail and social care sectors face especially high cost increases. For the purposes of this debate, I asked for and got extensive feedback from SMEs. Nearly a third of responding small businesses have had to pull back operations due to funding shortages. One in 10 cannot access finance at all, with high borrowing costs squeezing growth and confidence. Family businesses struggle with inheritance tax changes and some now have staff who decline to work full-time so that they can top up with universal credit. Between June and August 2025, UK businesses shed jobs at the fastest pace in four years, and this continues remorselessly. I say to the Minister, especially as many of your Lordships will know this to be true, that the SME sector—the seed corn of future growth—is in trouble in every corner of the country. This Government have a specific role to play. After nearly 10 years as the government-appointed director of the Horserace Betting Levy Board—I declare my interest—my role is drawing to an end. It has just 16 employees and distributes about £100 million for racing, prize money, research, and welfare. During these 10 years, I have seen an immense increase in the demand from government for more and more detailed information. As it is defined as public money flowing from betting, this is in principle entirely justifiable, but in practice, in my personal view, it can be wholly disproportionate. Some months ago, I went to see the Comptroller and Auditor-General of the National Audit Office. We had a frank and productive conversation. He has now written to some government departments advocating greater oversight proportionality. Recently, the Government announced the next stage of their regulation action plan. The objectives are clear, but the arms of government need to apply control over excessive control by Whitehall. I hope the Minister can give clear and active assurances about this. There is one European country which has long experienced fast growth, and not by massive borrowing or a welfare state that reduces the need to work. That country is Poland. In a spirit of free enterprise, it has low corporate taxation, a clear and simplified tax code, tax relief for investing in research and development, and special focused economic zones—policies which are producing real growth and prosperity for working people, much of it derived from a thriving and prosperous SME sector, which is so regrettably absent here.