Speeches by Reynolds.

“That is a really significant question. There are some well-known and well-recognised vulnerabilities that people are well aware of, so it is quite acceptable to talk about them in terms of, for instance, the supply chain in semiconductors or critical minerals. Sometimes, what these conversations lack is the recognition…”

“That is a great question. One element that is very much in my mind, which I do not think is always fully understood in Parliament or discussed in the media, is that there are, for instance, certain supply chains that have not a vulnerability but a greater degree of risk, just because of where they originate from. A key…”

“I understand that. While it is not helpful to speculate, you cannot help people speculating when something is so prominent in the news. I would reassure them by saying first of all that the UK has a strong sense of its own national interest. We have a strong case to make, while being able to make it, for an open, fair …”

“We did not reduce it. Just to be absolutely clear, that 75% reduction, which comes broadly to a cost to the Exchequer of £2.6 billion, was a one-year recurring measure that was not put into the national accounts. The starting position for this Budget, even though it would not be felt by businesses, was no business rate…”

“You should tell it that you share that frustration and that you have come to Parliament regardless of party and are demanding a better, more mature and more sustainable approach to how we do budgets and national finances. Short-term measures—effectively, a bit of a trap for any incoming Government by not accounting for…”

“You will know that it is often not always wise to speak on behalf of His Majesty’s Treasury.”

“I want business rates reform as soon as possible, and I want it to be as expansive as possible. Businesses will say, quite rightly, that they have been subjected to perhaps more consultations on business rates than anything else, but the kind of conversation that we want has to cover not just the future structure of bu…”

“Certainly historically, but the major issue is bigger than that. As a country, a much greater amount of support for business comes from the tax system, as opposed to grant funding. When you hear about Macron or the EU spending x amount on their plan for green industrial strategy, that is because there is a real inheren…”

“The first thing that I would say is that it is a combination of all those measures, whether that is business rates, crime, or tackling blighted buildings, which I see as a major issue in my town centres. I am always keen to stress, when I talk about the future of town centres, that I am not being nostalgic. We will not…”

“It is a fundamental change in consumer habits, and we have to recognise that the one thing—”

“The unlevel playing field comes from, in the main, things like business rates. I can detect a reference to the de minimis VAT/duty threshold as part of that. That is something that Government are looking at. There are also British businesses that benefit from those provisions, so you always have to work out where the l…”

“The most important bit for this Department, as opposed to maybe Treasury colleagues, is consideration of the wider role that town centres and high streets play. In terms of the relationship between housing, leisure and retail, there is a specific question as to how to balance those things. To be honest, I have strayed …”

“You can recognise how significantly consumer habits have changed. Let us be clear: if you are selling something online, your fixed costs are in many cases going to be much lower than a high street presence in order to do that. At the same time, some of those online marketplaces have also allowed businesses with physica…”

“You cannot put into the Business Department everything that affects businesses. That is not how Whitehall is structured. Skills is a good example in the Department for Education, though historically it has been in this one. How you co-ordinate that is the question. As a country—this is a question in every bit of spendi…”

“First of all, I very much remember—and appreciated—that trip to Tamworth. In terms of my role specifically, rather than wider Government policy, you will understand DESNZ’s lead on all aspects of the energy market. I would absolutely cite it as one of the most significant pressures on businesses of all sizes. There hav…”

“Yes, absolutely. The aspiration around the small business strategy is not just the specific elements of DBT business policy that directly apply to them. You will have seen our announcements on late payment, which we worked on with the Federation of Small Businesses. I am really excited by that. It is a really solid pac…”

“In my mind there is no doubt that it is the scale-up stage. We are an incredibly entrepreneurial country. The ideas and the energy that sit behind business formation in this country are fantastic. We are all broadly in agreement. We need to provide additional expertise and support in helping those smaller businesses th…”

“First of all, on business investment there have been some welcome changes. It is almost 100 years since the Macmillan Committee looked at business investment. It is a long-standing problem. There has been some good progress recently, but we are still the country at the bottom of the G7 table for business investment. Th…”

“I spend most of my days talking to businesses that are in that space. You have to recognise that we are talking about a very diverse group of people in terms of their aspirations. You have the entrepreneur who wants to make something, make a success of it, exit and start something new. You have serial entrepreneurs, wh…”

“First of all, let me say that pro-business, pro-worker does not mean we just do a very successful international investment summit one week and then a few weeks later we publish a workers’ rights Bill. You correctly articulate the challenge. We have all been through a Parliament that was historically the worst for livin…”