Labour is set to announce a climbdown on increases to business rates faced by pubs
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: GETTY)
Rachel Reeves is poised to U-turn on the business rates hike for pubs following a furious backlash. The Government is expected to announce changes to the proposals in the coming days.
It comes as ministers have faced growing concerns over the pub sector amid the withdrawal of a Covid-era tax break announced at the budget. Also coming in April are the new rateable values of business properties, which have been revaluated to reflect changes in the property market.
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Just a month on and the Budget is already falling apart. Labour were wrong to attack pubs and now have been forced into another screeching u-turn as Kemi called for just this morning.
“But this humiliating about-face does nothing for shops, restaurants, hotels and markets which all face a more than 50 per cent increase. This is not the stability Rachel Reeves promised – it is a recipe for economic disaster.
“Only the Conservatives have a strong leader with a clear plan to stand up for business by cutting business rates for thousands of local high-street firms.”
It comes after a Cabinet minister hinted more support could be forthcoming as he insisted the Government values “the role of the pub in British life”.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let me just explain to listeners there are three different things happening with pubs right now: the actual rates that are charged, those levels have been reduced, but at the same time there’s been a revaluation which has pushed up bills, and some of the Covid support that was put in place a few years ago has been withdrawn.
“Left with no action from the Government, the combined effect of all of those three things would be a very steep increase in the bills for pubs.”
It comes as Kemi Badenoch has vowed to scrap business rates for thousands of British pubs as she accused the Government of treating them “like cash cows to milk”.
The Conservative leader told The Daily Telegraph her party has “identified billions of pounds of savings from things like bringing down the welfare bill and reducing the size of the Civil Service”.
These savings would allow a future Conservative government to scrap business rates “entirely for thousands” of pubs, she said.
Mrs Badenoch told the paper: “Like so many of Britain’s small businesses, pubs are being treated by Labour like cash cows to milk instead of as places to protect.
“In government, we did what we could to support them. We slashed their business rates during the pandemic. We reformed alcohol duty and made it so that you’d always pay less tax on a pint bought in a pub than in the supermarket. And we helped hundreds of communities buy their local pubs to save them from closure.
“It wasn’t enough for every pub, but it made a big difference for many. Well, the Conservatives have not given up on saving the Great British Pub.”
