David Lepper

Labour Party | Brighton Pavilion

Speech to Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce

“Stability, employment and investment with Labour”
 
• Thank you very much for this invitation to meet members of the Chamber of Commerce.

• It was when I chaired the former Brighton Borough Council’s Economic Development Committee back in the early 1990s that I believe Brighton became the first local authority in the country to become a member of its Chamber. It was also then that we set up the very first town centre business forum involving business, community and council representatives to plan for improvements and for a strategy for sustained economic development especially for the town - rather than city - centre as it then was.

  It is good to see the way in which in the city centre part of the constituency that has now developed into the City Centre Business Forum with a City Centre Manager and so much good work being done particularly with retailers to deal with retail crime, graffiti and vandalism, and to make improvements to the local environment.

And it has been the local business community which has worked with the police, the council and residents using powers under the governmnet’s anti-social behaviour legislation, in a concerted effort to deal with the problems associated with drug and drink abuse and aggressive begging around Norfolk Square and Brighthelm Gardens and to ensure the success of the campaign to reduce street begging.

 I’m glad to have maintained that contact over the last 8 years and only yesterday I was talking with traders in the Lanes about the problems of rising rents and business rates for smaller traders there – exactly the people whose businesses give Brighton its individuality.

It seems to me that as one of the leading property owners in the city centre the Council could be looking at imaginative ways in which it might be able to use that role to influence rents to help ensure that we keep in Brighton and Hove those smaller businesses, particularly shops, which attract visitors and make the place the lively city it is.

I’m pleased also to have been involved in helping to set up the University of Sussex Innovation Centre.

My experience of  working with the local business community – became a focus of some of my work in Parliament in setting up with the Association of Town Centre Management a cross party group on town centres which contributed to Lord Rogers Report on an Urban Renaissance and most particularly has successfully promoted the US based idea of Business Improvement Districts – partnerships between local businesses and local authorities to finance 5 year improvement programmes in specific areas. I’m pleased to have worked on the detail of that legislation that enabled BIDs to be set up and now to chair the National Steering Committee overseeing the 22 BIDs pilot projects across England.

I was interested to see that The British Chambers of Commerce say in their “Manifesto 05” that they would be willing to “consider changes to local government funding, building on the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive scheme and the existing powers for BIDs. …We hope that BIDs will soon become a common feature of the UK’s business landscape.” So do I.
 
 I know that representatives of the North Laines and Lanes traders have been looking at the Business Improvements Districts, which already exist including Kingston upon Thames and thinking about the appropriateness those ideas here in Brighton.

Now in terms of this General Election the basic question each individual has to ask him or herself is do you want a Labour or Conservative Government after May 5th and which Party you trust to manage the economy ?
•  It seems to me that on the record - not just of the last 8 years but in fact of  the last 26 years since 1979 - there is no contest.

• On the one hand the two worst post war recessions this country has experienced, three million out of work (including the 1000s of people who had worked on the Hollingbury industrial estate), homes in every street being repossessed and disinvestment in the vital public services like the NHS and education which we all need – that was the Tory record.

• And on the other hand 8 years of economic stability with low interest rates and low inflation allowing individuals and firms to plan for the future with greater certainty for the long tern investment which is essential; employment at its highest recorded rates ever – over 7,000 more people locally in work that when Labour was elected in 1997.

• Now, facing the fastest and most far reaching global changes the world economy has ever seen, our task is to ensure security and prosperity continues and is shared by all.

• Labour is planning for –

• An Inflation target of two per cent and mortgage rates as low as possible;
• One million more people helped by the New Deal which has already helped to wipe out the scourge of unemployment among young people which I saw as a teacher in the 1980s and early 1990s r students at Falmer School
• 300,000 apprenticeships;
• Education spending rising to £5,500 per pupil by 2008.
 
Education remains our number one priority. Labour confirmed that we plan to spend a rising share of national income on education, with all the savings from falling unemployment switched to schools.

 This priority seems to me in line with the findings of the recent Sussex Enterprise Business Poll that improving the skills of people in the job market is one of the top four concerns of Sussex Businesses they surveyed.

And it also reflects the CBI Public Service Survey which showed that 92 % of firms believe education is the key factor in their performance.

I note that the Federation of Small Businesses also say on the basis of a recent survey they have carried out that improving skills – particularly in the retail sector is vital.

I was interested to see that the British Chambers of Commerce in their “ Manifesto 05” talks of slimming down – but not abolishing the Learning and Skills Council and a greater emphasis on local programmes to tackle skill shortages.

I know that the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership is working with the Local Skills for Productivity Alliance to identify retail-training needs in Sussex.

I hope also that the in the future COMART will play a vital role in this.

So the question is - do you want policies which make possible the kind of economic development announced for Brighton and Hove within the last week – for instance on the old wholesale market site with a new University of Brighton library, education facilities offices estimated to provide 800 more jobs and homes – included much needed affordable homes- Another of the top 4 issues in the Sussex Enterprise Poll.

Or do you want a return to the short-termism that characterised the period between 1979 and 1997. Also characterised by the dismantling of the support structures for businesses which, while by no means perfect, are  important.

The first item in the BCC’s manifesto is headed “Future decisions should seek to maintain and enhance the UK’s global competiveness.” It is that which is at stake.

I know that a real concern to many businesses is what is often described as red tape. I actually think that sometimes refers to record keeping which is for the protection both of the employer and the employees. But in this year’s Budget Gordon Brown did have things to say on that issue.

• Building on the success of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability to remove outdated and unnecessary regulations as recommended in the Better Regulation Task Force Report.

• Cutting the tax return for 500,000 of the smallest businesses and introducing new options for paying and managing VAT online.

• And to boost small and medium sized businesses, the ten-year Science and Innovation Investment Framework and for government departments 2.5% of R and D work outside the department should be with SMEs

Can I finish by mentioning what I see as some of the important local issues.

How to we keep here in the city that essential mix of representation of national and international companies and the local, the individual, the quirky even which makes us unique. Everywhere has its Debenhams and its Tesco, not everywhere has a major AMEX headquarters, a shop specialising in vegetarian shoes, EPIC, Future Media and the chance to sample every national cuisine on earth.

That includes finding ways to ensure that many of those new successful businesses that start up here – for instance, at the Innovation Centre – have the room to grow and stay here.

I’ve already mentioned the issue of rents.

The developments already underway on the Station site and those planned for Preston Barracks and the former wholesale market are important.

But I also believe that more effort has to made to unlock for affordable housing, and businesses the huge potential of  Shoreham Harbour – the biggest brown field site in the south east. It’s development could take much of the pressure off the rest of the city area – providing housing and space for new and expanding local businesses.

How do we resolve the transport issues for Brighton and Hove ? Iit seems to me must include not only park and ride but improvements to mainline trains, vast improvement to the south coast – Ashford link and rapid transit systems into and across the city.

And resolving those issues isn’t only about making easier for people to get in and out of town – it is also about that crucial issue
of climate change about which all companies large and small should be thinking in terms of the contribution they can make.

Making sure there is the sufficient affordable housing to buy and to rent which local people need. And I include my own son and daughter and their families in that.

Improving the skills of local people – not just because that makes them more employable but because it also increases their chances of living fuller and richer lives in every sense.

I look forward to continuing to work with you over the next 5 years in finding the solutions to some of those problems.