Speeches by Griffiths.

“I thank the Minister for giving way again. I would just like to tell him about Charlie Cockaday, who runs the Fox Inn in Felpham, who tells me that with the new business rates reform introduced by this Government, he will be paying £1,600 a month more in business rates going forward, which is the equivalent of 35p for …”

“To reflect on my hon. Friend’s point about risk, employers are taking personal risk when they set up businesses and employ people. When they have so much cost piled on them, that risk-benefit equation evaporates, and with it the jobs that they deliver to other people in their communities.”

“I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I invite him to visit the hairdressers in Aldwick, in my constituency of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, where the owner will tell him that he spends hours upon hours working to ensure that he can even stay profitable. The Government might be withdrawing some aspects of sma…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point, which takes me back to the conversation I had with Catherine this weekend. I hope she will not mind me saying this: she was so emotional that she was almost in tears at the prospect of a tourist tax being imposed by a Sussex mayor, who will come in next year—ac…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“You can, but we are talking about businesses that may not have access to all of those different options.”

“We are talking about access to finance, so let us assume that we are talking about all financial products that help growth. I am just suggesting that the pricing of any service or product that enables that access to finance for businesses in the UK to scale and grow is not at a price point that enables them to take adv…”

“It is about the price that a customer will have to pay to a lender.”

“There are two sides of the equation: supply and demand. It seems that there is supply. You are bringing in funds from the US and elsewhere? Blair, you have just talked about the millions that you have been able to bring into the five-year strategy, but if we are not getting the uptake, if businesses are not availing th…”

“What exactly are you doing that you are putting this effort into?”

“Is there nothing that we can do to make the pricing to businesses more competitive? That is bringing the supply in, but the point is also about demand. What if the price of the product is too high? Perhaps Lord Stockwood would like to comment on this as well.”

“The first question is what your analysis is. Do you agree with that hypothesis? Secondly, what are the Government doing about it?”

“We have had some of the answers to this, but I am not sure about the whole piece. Some of the problem is demand; some of the problem is supply. This is a question for Blair to start with. Could the problem not simply be that the price of capital in the UK is not compatible with the demand for it?”

“That is a very good point. Do you think the British Business Bank has gone far enough to help businesses outside of London? Are the ambitions outlined in its new five-year plan big enough for the potential you see in your regions?”

“Do you feel like it is not necessarily a lack of ambition on their part, but a lack of connection to your local area?”

“Are there other public finance institutions that you would and could be looking to, other than the BBB?”

“As a slight aside—I do not want to get too far down the rabbit hole—one of the real issues also is that, if you get the capital, do you actually have the skills locally to be able to create the return that you need?”

“Paul, it is the same question to you. What do you see as the role for the BBB in helping to unlock regional equity? Are there other public finance institutions you would look to as well?”

“Oliver, you have already been talking about how you would like to see the British Business Bank lead the market. This is a question to both of you, but let us start with Oliver because he brought it up. What do you see as the role for the British Business Bank in helping to unlock regional equity?”

“It is 51% of the population.”