Labour shadow chancellor visits Wellingborough to discuss health of town centre and supporting local businesses

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves MP paid a visit to Wellingborough’s High Street today (Tuesday) to speak to businesses with Labour hopeful Gen Kitchen.

Peering into locally-owned shops and meeting with representatives of small firms, she was able to see first-hand how the town centre has changed after the pandemic and ongoing cost of living crisis.

Ms Reeves had the opportunity to visit Rutherfords and Trains and Models in Market Street, before meeting with other representatives at the Hind Hotel.

And she said Labour will help to revive High Streets and shrink the gap between local and online shopping.

She said: “What we will bring is a level playing field so that High Street businesses and small businesses don’t pay more than some of the big online multinationals.

“At the moment you pay business rates before you make a penny of profit, and before you even make a penny of turnover, and that’s very hard for businesses that are starting out.

“It’s harder for businesses that actually want a High Street presence because High Street premises are taxed at a higher rate than the out of town distribution centres and warehouses.”

Ms Reeves called the situation ‘very unfair for local businesses’.

She said: “What came up time and time again in the discussion downstairs was that they don’t feel like anyone has got their back, they’re not getting the support they need, and they don’t have the voice that you should have from your local MP.

"That’s frustrating, because businesses are doing what they can to put some pride back and keep their businesses going, and you need an MP that backs that up.

“You see that in some places and it makes a difference.”

Ms Reeves was accompanied on the walkabout by Gen Kitchen, who was selected by members of the Labour party to serve as their candidate should the recall petition for MP Peter Bone’s seat in Parliament trigger a by-election.

If Ms Kitchen was to win at any potential by-election, she would be the first woman in history to represent the Wellingborough constituency.

She said: “You’ve got your big things in the centre but actually local businesses that are niche will separate Wellingborough from Northampton, Milton Keynes, and Rushden Lakes.

“They may not be able to sustain themselves on just the local economy but it brings people in, it raises the profile of the town, it creates more pride as more people come in.

"We’ve got very niche businesses that should be thriving.

Ms Kitchen also noted that, while speaking with local traders this week, some were ‘bursting with pride’ at what they sell and the business they have.

She added: “Supporting businesses out of the pandemic is the thing they need to grow High Streets and bring people back in.

"We’ve got the Waendel Walk as a set piece, people come to Wellingborough from all over the country and internationally for that so let’s make a big thing of it and kick start that tourism again.

"We were speaking to a woman in her 80s who said ‘we’re a historic market town that doesn’t have a market anymore’.”

When the Northants Telegraph conducted a review into the state of the town centre in March, the decreased footfall in the area was noted, and though the same could be said of many towns in the country, the strain this has put on local companies in Wellingborough is only getting harder to withstand.

When research was collected, Kettering MP Philip Hollobone said that Rushden Lakes took ‘years of economic growth out of the town centre.’

Meeting with businesses, be them from Wellingborough town centre or other areas like Irthlingborough and Nene Valley, gave a fresh perspective, with some acknowledging rising costs and a lack of help that may be required to help them to stay afloat at such a difficult financial period.

Recent analysis by the New Economics Foundations shows that, taking into account the tax cuts introduced at the Autumn Statement, the average family in the East Midlands will be £387 pounds worse off than they were four years ago.

Responding to the data, Ms Reeves said: “This analysis reveals working people in the East Midlands are worse off.

"After 13 years of economic failure, the Conservatives have let families across the country down and failed to deliver the change we so desperately needs.

“We have a plan to make working people in the East Midlands better off by boosting growth, creating well-paid jobs and cutting household bills.”