'It doesn't make a difference who is in Government... it's the local community getting things done here'

HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES IN NEW BRIGHTON TELL THE ECHO THEY ARE LESS THAN IMPRESSED WITH THE LACK OF POLITICAL SUPPORT

- By JAMIE GREER

A DECADE ago, New Brighton was like many other seaside towns across the UK, with tourism drying up and empty shops dominating the streets.

But taking a walk down Victoria Road now shows things are very different for the town.

It's full of new shops, bars, restaurants and street art. That's in large part down to Daniel Davies, who grew up in the town before leaving to work in London. Speaking to the ECHO, Daniel explained that he had a change of heart after he kept returning from London where he worked and was met with a street full of boarded up shops.

Seven years ago, he began buying up a series of empty units and converted them into new venues, such as Rockpoint Records and The James Atherton pub, now renamed as The George Orwell in protest at the government's plan for digital ID.

But Daniel feels the street's success is down to people like him and others in the community, rather than councillors and governments of all political persuasions.

This week's national headlines have been dominated by Westminster however. The headline announcements in last Wednesday's budget by Chancellor Rachel Reeves included the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, a 4.1% increase in the minimum wage, the freezing of tax bands at higher rates, a mansion tax on homes worth over £2m and cuts in green levies to bring down energy bills.

Daniel's overwhelming feeling to these announcements is apathy. He said: "With the minimum wage, we want to pay staff as much as we can. The reality is with increases in employers NI (National Insurance), with increases in VAT at the moment, the vast number of people are on a fixed salary who work.