Labours Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds visited local candidate: Leigh Ingham, in Stafford. They popped into a Coffee shop and Rachel had a go at key cutting at the local Timpson's where Marcus the Manager had prepared a special key to cut.
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00:00We all have quotes on our badges as well.
00:02Oh, OK, what does it say on the card?
00:04Always away.
00:04Part of the family since 2023, and then it says...
00:07Always away.
00:08Aww.
00:09So, but it's a great topic of starter conversations, the badges do.
00:12Yeah.
00:13So, a fun tagline's always it.
00:14It's a good indicator.
00:15And you've never left?
00:17I left when I was about 18 or 19, thinking there was...
00:20It's bound to be something.
00:21I've been back 25 years.
00:22Right, OK.
00:23So...
00:24One more.
00:25It's quite technical, isn't it?
00:27I was wondering, so it obviously traces the teeth,
00:29and then that will match it on the blank where the woman's got it.
00:33Where is it? Yeah.
00:34From there.
00:35Slide it along.
00:39And then back.
00:42And back.
00:43Yeah.
00:43That way?
00:44Keep going.
00:45Yeah.
00:46But it's following the teeth.
00:47Yeah, so it kind of freaks with it, and then the...
00:51Yeah.
00:57And then that's just following the original.
01:00And now I've got it.
01:01And then you put it in the blank.
01:02Still again.
01:03Right.
01:04High pressure.
01:05And then come across this way with the lever.
01:08Yeah.
01:10And then back again.
01:11Keep going.
01:12So, the first poster votes have just started landing.
01:15Have they started landing here, Luke?
01:16They leave on the 20th, so 21st.
01:17Oh, all right.
01:18So, we can't say no single vote?
01:20It's for boots and men's shoes.
01:21All right, OK.
01:22Yep, buy your shoes, Johnny.
01:24Are you all right?
01:25I've done a lot of steps in this election campaign, Mark.
01:28I don't know if I'm leaning there one way.
01:30It doesn't lean.
01:31It's leaning to the right.
01:32Yeah, it will.
01:33It's a lot of steps, isn't it?
01:34It's always a danger leaning to the right.
01:36Yeah.
01:37It's not leaning to the right.
01:40But yeah, Mark, we're doing a lot of work in this campaign.
01:43A lot of steps, mate.
01:44It's easy 30,000 votes.
01:47Very good.
01:48Yeah, it's true.
01:49We did a lot of walking during the election campaign.
01:51Mark Hunter's an expected star.
01:54First of all, you've been looking at staff at High Street today.
01:58Perhaps you'll tell me now you've made the regeneration of High Street a big thing in your manifesto.
02:04What sort of things will you be doing and how will people see a difference by the end of four or five years' time?
02:10What difference will people see in the High Street?
02:12So, as you would have seen in our manifesto last week,
02:15our agenda for government is all about bringing prosperity to local places
02:20and making ordinary working people better off.
02:24And one of the big signs of whether an economy is doing well or not is whether the High Street is flourishing.
02:29And that's why we've set out today Labour's five-point plan for the High Street,
02:33starting with reform of business rates to make them fairer for small businesses and High Street businesses,
02:39making it easier for local authorities and local communities to take control of properties that are vacant.
02:46And we've just walked up the High Street and Lee's been pointing out to us a number of the vacant units
02:51and the challenges that poses for local town centres, including here in Stafford.
02:55Cracking down on crime and antisocial behaviour, again something that Lee tells us is a real challenge here.
03:01And we need more police on the street and we also need a named police officer for every local community
03:08so people know who's accountable, who's responsible.
03:11We've also said that we will crack down on late payment,
03:16which are a real problem, particularly for smaller businesses and independent businesses,
03:20like many of those that we see here in Stafford.
03:25So if we can do those things, we can breathe fresh life into our local communities and into our local High Streets.
03:31We want High Streets to be places that people want to be, people want to shop,
03:36that are the heart and soul of our local communities again.
03:39He said it would make it easier for local councils to take control of empty buildings.
03:43Presumably that will cost the local authority money.
03:46Do you want to say a bit more about that, Johnny?
03:49Absolutely. Lisa showed us, you see that terrific, lovely High Street there.
03:52So we know retail has changed, things have changed,
03:55but you can't walk down a street like that and not feel that should be the heart of a community.
03:59People have pride and you can see the history and some of the business owners there.
04:02It's fantastic conversations with people.
04:05When you talk to, for instance, we've been in that cafe, we've been in Timpsons there,
04:08people who are putting really their heart and souls into those businesses.
04:12And of course if an area becomes blighted, that makes it less attractive, less customers come,
04:16you could be doing everything, but you wouldn't be able to succeed in those circumstances.
04:20So the kind of powers we would be introducing would allow, say, a local authority
04:24to take control of a building, to have a rental auction, to bring it back into use.
04:28That money will go to the owner, it's not going to the local authority.
04:31But we're going to say very clearly, if we want thriving town centres, we're not going to tolerate
04:35properties lying derelict, bringing down the whole of the area,
04:38perhaps almost to an irredeemable state in some cases.
04:41We want to take action. I think if you own property on a high street,
04:44it's in your own interest to bring it into use, but we are serious about turning around town centres and places like that.
04:49But going back to my point, where's the local authority going to get the funding from to do this?
04:53It's more responsibility for local authorities.
04:55Well it doesn't require any significant capacity that isn't already there,
04:59because of course you're taking the asset, you're going to make that a rental auction,
05:03the money is set aside, the money is going to go to the owner of that.
05:06But it's going to be quite clear, it's a term of licensing as I see it,
05:09if you own that property and you've left it vacant for a significant period of time,
05:12it's going to be brought back into use under a policy of a government
05:15that's committed to thriving high streets and town centres.
05:17Let's move on to Carrie.
05:19The empty properties thing is something of great interest to me,
05:24because I hear quite a lot in this area concerns about the high rental rate for businesses
05:29and how they face the charges from landlords.
05:31Is there anything you're able to do to intervene with landlords to control rent prices
05:38for commercial properties to make them more accessible to, for example,
05:43smaller businesses and those starting out?
05:46The big commitment we've made is around business rates.
05:49So at the moment the business rates system is stacked up against high street businesses
05:53and smaller businesses.
05:55You have to pay business rates before you make a penny of turnover,
05:58let alone a penny of profit.
06:00And so we want to rebalance the business taxation, business property taxation,
06:05to make it easier for small businesses and high streets
06:08and ask some of the big online multinationals to pay a fairer share of tax.
06:13So that would be a direct benefit,
06:15because the two biggest costs for most small businesses and high street businesses
06:20is the rent and the business rates.
06:22So that's where government can step in,
06:24because people aren't plobbered by high business rates as soon as they get going.
06:29And one of the things we were saying to Andy is that you may get small business rates relief,
06:33but then you take on a second property,
06:35so if you want to set up a second cafe in a neighbouring town or village,
06:38then you'll lose your business rates relief on your first property.
06:41So one of our commitments is to look at whether we can change that to help businesses grow,
06:46because we don't want businesses just to sit still,
06:50we want businesses to grow and make a success and create more jobs
06:53and make people in the community better off.
06:55OK, thank you. Thanks everyone.