Bowen, who took part in The Apprentice in 2024, said: “Look around Chorley or your home town. How many shops have “To Let” signs in the windows?”
“Years ago, this shop would tick over and pay its way. Now, with employer’s National Insurance, energy bills, business rates, wages and everything else, there just isn’t enough left.”
On energy prices, he asked Burnham: “What are you actually doing to bring those down?”.
He also asked the government to “scrap or significantly reduce employer’s National Insurance for small businesses, reduce business rates, ease the VAT burden and get business energy costs down”.
“Let us grow. Let us take people on. Let us have something left to put back into the business,” he said.
