It's a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon. The Vale of Clwyd is home to many great small businesses, far too many to list for this short debate this afternoon. I could go on all afternoon, but each one is vital to the economy of my constituency and to that of north Wales, and to the prosperity of our nation as a whole, as small business are the lifeblood of our villages, our towns and our cities. It's our job, here in this place, to ensure that we create an environment where small businesses can thrive and survive.

Sadly, the Welsh Government talk the talk, but when it comes to creating the right conditions to help small businesses to continue trading, they not only fail to act but often pursue anti-small-business policies. We have the highest rate of business rates in Britain, and while I welcome the temporary small business rates relief scheme, what happens after the existing pandemic phase is over? 

The Welsh Government, and their little helpers in Plaid, as I like to say, are planning even more taxes on small businesses—the tourist tax is just the latest hair-brained scheme. This Welsh Government has to abandon such plans and create a low-tax business environment. Our small businesses, many of them family owned and family run, employ nearly two thirds of the Welsh public. They are not a cash cow to fund Government waste and excess.

We have to help our small businesses survive and thrive. While I can do little about the Welsh Government’s business credentials, I can show my support for small businesses across Wales, and this weekend I will practice what I preach. I will be visiting businesses across my constituency and urging others to shop local, and I urge people in my constituency, this Saturday, to avoid going to places like Broughton park, Parc Prestatyn, Parc Llandudno or Chester, and to eat local food and drink and to buy local goods and services, whether it’s enjoying a pre-shopping breakfast at the Glass Onion café in Denbigh, buying a Christmas cheese board at the Little Cheesemonger in Prestatyn and Rhuddlan, getting some last-minute Christmas calendars printed at Perham Prints in Rhyl, or enjoying a well-earned evening meal and a few beers in the Plough in St Asaph. There is a wide and varied choice of small businesses to support in my constituency and every other constituency in Wales, but a small business isn’t just for Christmas—we have to show our support for these businesses all year round, as Huw Irranca-Davies rightly said. So, I urge Members to support our motion and to shop locally at every opportunity. Diolch yn fawr.