Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, is calling on local business owners to get in touch with him with any issues and ideas they have around the global increase in energy prices so he can raise them with the Chancellor.
Ofgem announced today that the average household energy bill will rise to £3,549 a year from 1st October as the effect of Putin's war in Ukraine is felt.
Ben has shared his sadness at local business Olney Butchers announcing they will be closing due to the energy price increase and is keen to hear the views of local businesses so he can feed them back to the Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.
He said: “It’s absolutely devastating to see local businesses under such pressure, feeling the pinch, especially since we all worked so hard to keep businesses afloat and people in jobs during the pandemic.
“Hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money towards keeping people in jobs through Furlough and through business support grants from the Government to keep businesses afloat.
“It’s hard not to see all that as futile faced with the pressures sweeping around the world at the moment, the global inflationary surge post-pandemic combined with the energy crisis caused by Putin’s war in Ukraine have meant businesses are under such pressure.
“The Government is working on a business support package right now and both leadership candidates have signalled small businesses are their top priority, but right now what we’re doing is making sure small businesses in our communities have customers.
“A huge Cost Of Living support package is already rolled out with £37 billion worth of support going to households across the country to make sure small businesses in our area have customers with money to spend, but we know businesses are at the frontline right now – help is on its way.
“My heart goes out to every small business owner and employee across our wonderful constituency. I know how tough it is and I know they’re working as hard as they can.”
Local business owners can get in touch with Ben by email at [email protected]
