Kate Osborne MP champions South Tyneside businesses ahead of Small Business Saturday

This Saturday is Small Business Saturday – an annual celebration of the huge contribution that small businesses make to our local economy and a chance to celebrate their successes.

I strongly believe in the importance of championing and supporting local businesses in our area and do all I can to ensure I shop local and visit as many as possible and give them a shout-out on social media.

Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, they are often social hubs now online with Facebook groups as well as in real life, places where we see friends, neighbours and colleagues, and connect with our local community.

Shopping local isn’t just a gesture – it’s estimated that Small Business Saturday generates an extra £1 billion for small businesses as more people shop locally in person or online.

Across the year I have visited many local businesses in my constituency, some of my favourites that I return to regularly are BeModern, Café Obscura, Thanks A Bunch, The Flowers Station, Rosie’s and The Hive Coffee Company – all of whom are so committed to our community.

Last month I was pleased to be able to nominate one of our local business managers Wendy Stead from Thanks a Bunch, to get an award in Parliament as part of the MP Heroes spotlight on Women Entrepreneurs, Wendy was deservedly recognised for the incredible work she does in our local community not just with her shop in Hebburn, but as a school governor for three local schools.

Women entrepreneurs such as Wendy contribute so much to our local economy and women business owners deserve to be recognised and I was pleased Wendy was able to join me in Parliament to receive the award.

Throughout this week on my social media pages, I have been sharing many of our brilliant small businesses who have been given a shout-out about the wonderful work they do and asking people to tag their own favourite small businesses - there are far too many to mention but a few that came up more than once were Hogg MOT in Hebburn, Muddy Fingers Pottery in Jarrow and Ivy’s Tea Party - so make sure you check those out!

Small businesses need our help and support and in the summer, I met with the owners of the Viking Shopping Centre to highlight that Jarrow Town Centre needs investment after years of underfunding and neglect.

I also will be continuing working with the Jarrow Town Fund to push for investment and also with the Police and Council to tackle ASB on our high streets.

I know that times are still really tough for so many people at the moment, but it will take time to recover from the 14 years of destructive policies and economic catastrophe that the Tories inflicted on our communities.

Our local businesses continue to face the aftermath of the Tories carnage leaving them with soaring interest rates, higher mortgage payments and borrowing costs, sky-high energy bills as well as rising daily costs to keep businesses running.

The Tories had no plan for business and as a result they and the UK were left behind - since 2019 the UK has been in last place for business investment in the G7, with countries like Mexico, Slovenia and Latvia and Hungary all attracting higher levels of private sector capital investment than the UK.

We cannot instantly improve things, yet over the past four months, the contrast between our pro-worker, pro-business Labour Government and the last 14 years of Tory incompetence is already clear.

We have announced support to tackle the scourge of late payments, we have extended the enterprise investment scheme and venture capital trust schemes, and we are helping small businesses access loan programs.

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We will permanently lower business rates for pubs, shops and leisure businesses.

We are tackling shoplifting, reversing the Tories' rule that the police would only investigate shoplifting of goods worth over 200.

We have given Councils new powers to transform long-term empty shops.

Under the Tories, chaos, austerity and decline cost Britain’s small businesses dearly. Under Labour, stability, investment and reform will fix our economy.

One of Labour’s priorities in Government is to kickstart economic growth – to create jobs, get more money into people’s pockets and make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

We have done more for Britain’s small businesses in four months than the previous Conservative Government did in 14 years. And change has only just begun.

I have written to all businesses in my constituency, held small business roadshows and will continue to support you in every way I can.

I would like to meet and hear from more of our brilliant businesses so do get in touch, please e-mail [email protected].