Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds.
Jonathan Reynolds has been appointed Secretary of State for Business and Trade by Prime Minister Kier Starmer; he will be Labour’s first business sec since Ed Miliband and already faces a long list of requests from industry leaders.
Mr Reynolds has been the Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester since 2010 and was appointed Shadow Secretary for Business and Trade in 2023.
Some of the challenges he will have to deal with include:
Industry professional have been campaigning for business rates reform in order to revitalise the UK’s fledging high street.
Critics say that they are a property tax that affects small firms already struggling to pay rising bills. Mr Reynolds has said the new system will “reward expansion rather than disincentivising it”.
The industry is also in desperate need of upskilling and the need to bridge the skills shortage has left many unable to hire for in-demand jobs.
Another issue, the new Secretary of State for Business and Trade will face is the issue of late payments.
In autumn, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC) bill will give public bodies greater powers to clamp down on exploitative trading practices such as drip pricing.
Reynolds voted in favour of the bill when it was first proposed, one of many signals that he plans to be heavy on big business regulation and transparency. That includes late payments, a phenomenon that has contributed to many small business cash flow problems.
Mr Reynolds has said he will introduce “new legislation to ensure all large companies will have to report on their payment practices and demonstrate they are prompt payers.”
Employment Law reform is also another big area for Mr Reynolds to tackle. He has previously supported a motion to prevent mass sackings after P&O Ferries made 786 staff redundant before replacing them with people on lower wages.
Labour has said it will make changes, stating that it has plans to ban “fire and “rehire” practices and zero-hours contracts, and introduce a day one right to sick pay.
It has also suggested it may also make changes to the national living wage in-line with living standards. This will raise concerns from cash-strapped business owners, many of whom struggled to absorb the most recent minimum wage rise.
“Labour’s commitment to small business isn’t skin deep. It’s fundamental to the economy we want to build,” said Reynolds in his Basildon speech last year.
His task now is to prove that statement by introducing fair measures that can square Labour’s trade unionist legacy with the growth manifesto it has promised UK business owners.
