King's Lynn MP joins Budget debate
He's looking to the longer term
Last updated 9th Mar 2021
During the debate on the Budget, James welcomed continued support for families and jobs in North West Norfolk, particularly extending the Universal Credit uplift, continuing the furlough scheme, and widening access to self-employment support.
He highlighted the challenging situation for tourism and hospitality businesses that are vital to North West Norfolk and praised the decision to extend business rates holiday and the 5% VAT rate that he campaigned for. He said there is a strong case for extending the lower 12.5% VAT rate that applies from October on an ongoing basis.
Longer term, he spoke about the proposal Visit East of England and New Anglia LEP are developing for a Tourism Zone for Norfolk and Suffolk and encouraged ministers to include the timetable and process in the tourism recovery strategy in the spring.
James welcomed that King's Lynn and West Norfolk is in the priority group for the new Levelling Up Fund and said that the Town Investment Plan submitted recently should be looked at closely by government to promote jobs, skills, regeneration, and a better connected town to drive growth, innovation, and investment.
He praised the "super-deduction" to increase business investment in capital equipment while raising concerns expressed by the NFU about the ability of some firms in the agricultural sector to benefit for investment in new farm technology. He also called on the government to stick to the timetable for the business rates review to create a level-playing field for our high streets..
Finally, he said that the Budget was honest about the challenges and makes the right call to continue short term support, while setting out a path to fix the finances.