New clause 3 was a fantastic Christmas present to members of the Bill Committee and a big boost for youth employment across the UK, particularly in North Yorkshire, where I represent a very rural set of communities and where, although we have very low unemployment figures, young people still want jobs. This will be a big boost for them.
During small business Saturday, Government Members and, I hope, Members across the House, were out seeing small businesses across the areas we represent. In the town of Settle in the Yorkshire dales, people were clamouring for more information on the Government’s policy on the employment allowance and their new policy on employing under-21s without paying tax. That makes a huge difference, as other hon. Members have said, to businesses with a small profit margin that have just been set up.
Such businesses include JW Garnett, which managed to sell me a toaster on small business Saturday; 3 Peaks Cycles, which is revving up for the Tour de France in Yorkshire, which the Government have backed with £10 million; the Talbot Arms, which is being funded by a parent of the publican who is anxious to get moving and employ more people; and the Three Peaks Gallery, which is run by Hazel, who lost her husband at the end of last year, has this year been trying to keep the business moving and is now planning to use the Government’s measures to expand and employ people.
The employment allowance and the removal of employers’ NICs for under-21s, along with the business rate announcement in the autumn statement, mean that this Government now have a bumper range of policies to ensure that we are the party of business. The policies also include start-up loans, apprenticeships, the boost to the funding for lending scheme and a tax reduction whereby we will have one of the lowest rates of corporation tax in the world and thereby one of the best places in the world in which to do business and invest. My hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) has mentioned how difficult it is to employ people, but our moderate measures on employment—which faced stiff opposition from the Labour party—will make it easier for businesses to take on people.
All those measures mean that the Conservative party is the party of business. We will ram that message home as we approach the next election, because anyone who wants to start a business, who is an entrepreneur, who is thinking about being self-employed, who wants to take a risk or who thinks it might be worth investing in an initiative, market or product has only one choice in 2015, and that is this party.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.