If you want to understand how Labour’s policies are really affecting people, don’t look at Westminster. Look at our high streets.
In Crawley, businesses are doing everything they can to keep going. Shop owners, café managers, pub landlords, they are working longer hours, cutting costs, and doing their best to serve our community.
But many of them are now asking the same question: how much longer can this go on?
Because under Labour, the cost of doing business has surged.
Business rates have gone up. Employer National Insurance has increased. Energy bills remain high. And new regulations are piling on more costs. The result is simple: it is becoming harder and harder to keep the doors open.
We are now seeing the consequences. Across the country, over 1,100 pubs and restaurants have closed since Labour’s Budget, with nearly 90,000 jobs lost in hospitality alone. High streets are not just struggling, they are being pushed to the brink.
And when businesses suffer, communities suffer too.
Because our high streets are not just places to shop. They are where people meet, where local life happens, where jobs are created. When shops close, it leaves empty units, fewer jobs, and a sense that something important is being lost.
Labour promised to back business. Instead, they have taxed it.
Here in Crawley, we need a different approach. An approach that backs our high street, not burdens it.
That is why ahead of the 7th May, Crawley Conservatives are promising a simple, practical change that would make a real difference: one hour of free parking in Crawley Borough Council car parks.
It sounds simple, because it is and free parking for a short period would encourage more people into town. It would help local shops compete with out-of-town retail and online giants. It would give people a reason to pop in, grab a coffee, visit a local store, and support local businesses.
And it would send a clear message: Crawley is open for business.
Alongside that, Conservatives have set out a national plan to take the pressure off high streets.
We will cut business rates and we will go further and introduce 100 per cent relief for many retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, lifting thousands of small firms out of business rates altogether. 
That means lower costs, more jobs, and more investment back into our town centres.
Because the truth is this: if you want thriving high streets, you have to back the businesses that keep them alive.
Labour’s approach is the opposite. Higher taxes, higher costs, and more pressure — all at a time when businesses are already struggling.
It is no wonder confidence is falling and investment is slowing.
Crawley deserves better than that.
We are a town built on enterprise and hard work. From family-run shops to independent cafés, from local services to growing businesses, this is a community that wants to succeed.
But success does not happen by accident. It requires the right conditions of lower costs, sensible policies, and local leadership that understands what businesses need.
That is what Conservatives are offering. A plan for a stronger economy. A plan that backs business. And practical local action like free parking that makes a real difference on the ground.
