Shropshire MP launches campaign to back Shropshire businesses in wake of 'Trump tariffs'
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has called on the people of Shropshire to "rally round" the county's businesses in the wake of new tariffs imposed by the United States.
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Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a raft of tariffs on goods imported into the USA, with UK businesses subject to a baseline rate of 10 per cent on all goods imported into the US.
Now, Helen Morgan MP has launched a campaign to support the county's high street busineses and farmers in the wake of the tariffs, and what she described as a "double whammy" of hikes on businesses following increases to employer based National Insurance Contributions(NICs) and national minimum wage which kicked in earlier this month.
The increase to NICs has been labelled a "jobs tax" by the Liberal Democrats in recent weeks.
“People here in North Shropshire are deeply concerned about the impact that Donald Trump’s disastrous trade war could have on our living standards and local businesses," she said.
“That is why I am launching a ‘Buy Shropshire, Back Britain,’ campaign, to encourage people to play their part in supporting our fantastic local businesses and high street shops at this difficult time.
“This needs to include our brilliant Shropshire farmers – the backbone of our economy – who are at risk of once again being clobbered by a trade deal that effectively sells them out, just as the Conservatives did.
“We need the Government to unleash the potential of our local high streets by reforming business rates, and dropping their jobs tax which is set to hammer businesses in the coming days.”
The UK Government said it was retaining a "cool head" as it attempted to negotiate a trade deal with the USA to negate the tariffs, described by the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce as a lose-lose situation.
Last week, Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned against Britain becoming an "inward-looking" nation amid calls for reciprocal tariffs from opposition parties.
"What we don’t want to see is a trade war, with Britain becoming inward-looking, because if every country in the world decided that they only wanted to buy things produced in their country, that is not a good way forward," she told the house of commons.
Meanwhile, the UK Government says it's committed to further business rate reforms after calls for an urgent review from Ms Morgan in the house of commons this week.
Ms Morgan called for a debate on "radical reforms" for business rates amid a wave of high street closures this year.
"North Shropshire is home to some historic and beautiful market towns," she told the house of commons.
"I have been contacted by some high-street retailers, particularly Niche Patisserie and the Covent Garden Fruit & Veg shop, which are concerned about the double whammy of business rates increasing and NIC hikes happening this week. They are worried about the impact on high streets, which also face the closure of post offices and banks.
"Can we have a debate in Government time on how we can radically reform business rates to bring our high streets back to life?"
In response, leader of the house of commons Lucy Powell MP said the government needed to "go further", after admitting that High Street businesses were facing tough times.
"This Government are committed to business rate reform. We have already taken through a piece of legislation beginning that process by creating a new lower level of business rates as well as a higher band for some of those much larger businesses, but we need to go further," she said.
"We have retained the discount into next year, but I appreciate that these are difficult times for high street business and businesses in our town centres. This Government are committed to ensuring that we protect and support businesses and working people."
