Rayner calls for Starmer to appoint night-time economy minister

Angela Rayner has called for Sir Keir Starmer to appoint a dedicated night-time economy minister as she warned “more needs to be done” to support the industry.

In a challenge to the Labour Government, the former deputy prime minister suggested venues face a “triple whammy” of costs with business rates, VAT and a minimum wage increase, on top of other pressures.

Speaking at a summit on the night-time economy in Liverpool, Ms Rayner said the sector should have a “true champion on the national stage” to represent its interests.

The Labour MP, who served as Sir Keir’s deputy and as local government secretary until resigning last year after a row over her underpayment of stamp duty on a new property, told an event in Liverpool: “We need to do better.

“We need to recognise the value of this industry, economically, culturally, socially.

“We need to design policy with the industry and not for it.”

She added: “I would support the Government in having a named minister with responsibility for the night-time economy to champion the sector inside Government and ensure that the voices of small and medium businesses are heard loud and clear.”

In a Q&A following her speech, Ms Rayner said “the ministerial position is really important” and urged Labour to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the sector.

The MP, who also previously oversaw Labour’s workers’ rights package and is widely seen as a potential successor to Sir Keir amid recent speculation about his future in No 10, also lamented the “challenges” to business of rising costs.

“I think we’ve got to recognise, it’s not even a double whammy, it’s not even a triple whammy, I talk about the challenges on business rates, the challenges on VAT, the challenges of the minimum wage going up and the living wage going up,” she said.

“And the cost of energy – we’ve got to start looking at the intersectionality of all these challenges and start relieving some of them.”

In her budget last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves slashed a discount on business rates for pubs introduced during the pandemic.

Following anger from landlords, a £300 million “lifeline” for pubs was announced in January in a bid to ease concerns.

Also coming in April are new rateable values of business properties, which have been revalued to reflect changes in the property market.

Labour needs to “put rocket boosters on what we promised at the election and start delivering now”, Ms Rayner added, arguing that firms also need a “more permissive approach to licensing”.

“If we’re serious about recovery, then we must fuel the recovery of them (businesses),” she said.

“That means recognising the value not just in rhetoric, but in policy. And this is where we must be candid.

“There is, without doubt, a clear divide between policy that truly understands the night-time economy and policy that simply applies a one-size-fits-all approach.

“Too often, policy is done to this sector, not with it. And I recognise clearly and openly that more needs to be done to engage the industry directly and consistently and respectfully, to listen, to co-design, to recognise expertise where it exists.”

Responding to Ms Rayner’s speech, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said she had “finally realised the cumulative impact” of the Government’s “anti-business policies” on the economy.

“But these words will ring hollow for many, given she was one of the principal architects of the job-destroying Employment Rights Bill,” the Tory frontbencher added.

Several Labour figures have suggested changes should be made to the way Government operates in recent days following the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Her recommendation of a new ministerial post follows calls from female Labour parliamentarians for Sir Keir to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy after a series of controversies which critics say has exposed a “boys’ club” in Downing Street.

No 10 has rejected the accusations about the way it has been run, but the Prime Minister has said he would consider a suggestion from Baroness Harriet Harman to revive the position of first secretary of state, which functions in practice as a deputy prime minister, and give the role to a woman.

A Government spokesperson said: “Thriving nightclubs are often at the heart of communities and play a key role in supporting economic growth across the UK.

“That is why we are taking action to support the sector including tackling late payments, speed up licensing reforms and cut red tape while our £4.3 billion support package will cap big business rate bill hikes – and we are publishing a new high streets strategy later this year to renew our neighbourhoods.”