Business Owner Questions John Healey Over Promised Financial Relief

John Healey, if you're listening, where's my breathing space?

You've, you promised me. Mm-hmm. You promised the UK breathing space.

Where is it? You know, I was really positive.

You know, Andy's a Northerner, and I thought, "He gets it."

Yes. He g- he gets it. He's listening. And in the headlines, John Healey: "We're gonna give families and business owners breathing space." I read it.

I don't qualify for the business rates. This 20% business rate relief.

Don't, I don't qualify for that. Because?

Because I'm multi-site. Right. So I have, I have, I have- You've got more than one shop.

I've got more- You've got two shops left ... I've got two shops.

Yeah. So I don't qualify for that. The minimum wage is increased, which, uh, we, we ask every business owner, it, it... I'm not saying that we shouldn't pay staff.

Mm-hmm. What I'm saying is we can't afford to pay them.

Oh, for, oh, only for over 21s, though, so you could still hire somebody younger than 21, and they wouldn't have been affected by this particular- Yeah, but all my, all my staff now currently- Have been with you for years ... that have, have been with us- Yeah ... for years. So I'm gonna have an approximately £700 a week increase.

If I, if I'm having a £700 a week increase, my suppliers are having a, an increase. My supplier bill's around 20 to £30,000 a week.

That'll be 10%, so £2,000 to £3,000 a week, so that's £4,000 a week I've gotta find.

And how many pies is that? That's about 20 to 30,000 pies a week.

Oh, my God. So I'm gonna... I've got, me week has gone up.

I've got no business rates. I've got no relief.

The national insurance is crippling me. The energy crisis is crick- crippling me.

I'm gonna have to put me prices up. Customers are gonna get mad.

They're gonna re- I'm gonna get less profit.

Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna get less profit. Me as a family, as a director, I've gotta take a 2% cut, so my family, my one-year-old girl, we're a family, I'm taking a pay cut. Me business is taking a pay cut.

What, how, how, how is that breathing room for me?

Yeah, I- How, how, how, where, where's my breathing space?

M- John Healey, if you're listening, where's my breathing space?

You've, you promised me. Mm-hmm. You promised the UK breathing space. Where is it?